


Who are we?

by LessLiesJJ



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Slavery, Bondage, Bondage and Discipline, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, My First Fanfic, Psychological Trauma, Sexual Slavery, Torture, broken!ukes, everyonejustbecamerich, kindacuteactually, notanenglishnativespeaker, noteverythingistorture, pleasedontkillme
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-03-21 23:24:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 13
Words: 59,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3707333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LessLiesJJ/pseuds/LessLiesJJ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Somewhere in Japan there's an university of prodigies where just high-class students learn how to be the leaders of tomorrow and where a genious appears once every ten years. The thing is, five prodigies appeared out of nowhere and are now at the same year of college.<br/>In a world where slavery is the most common way of punishment for those who commit crimes, how will;<br/>The one who is always right,<br/>The one who can only be beaten by himself,<br/>The one who does nothing and still get the highest grades,<br/>The one who has the world in his hands and<br/>The one whose true potential can surpass all of the above<br/>live in the same sphere than;<br/>The one who is afraid of pain,<br/>The one who can't stand darkness,<br/>The one who has been tortured for years,<br/>The one who is scared of being under control and<br/>The one who is so broken that thinks everyone will hurt him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Who are we?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is my first fanfic and I'm sooooooo excited!! /////-/////  
> I really hope you like it and please forgive my grammar and spelling mistakes, english is not my first language (nor second...)  
> Anyways! This might look wrong at the beggining but it will get better, I promise!

**Kuroko's POV**

 

It was cold.

It smelled horrible.

It felt horrible.

I felt horrible.

I was lying on the ground, trying to get myself warmer by keeping mi legs close to my chest. But it wasn't working, the shivering got worse by the second. The cold was unbearable and my breath came out in short, hot clouds of smoke. The cold cement I was lying on wasn't helping, either.

Am I going to die, at last?

"Hey dog, stand for once!"

I sighed. Why did I even think...?

I tried to stand up by putting my arms on the floor with whatever force I had left, but I could just barely push my head away from the cold to fall back again.

Please, I'm so tired...

 I earned a foot on my stomach and pain. A lot of pain.

"Tch! You dare defy me?! You insolent animal!" the guy said, grabbing my hair and forcing me up. "Stand up bitch!"

"I a-apologize, ma-master" I whispered so I wouldn't get hurt again.

It made things worse; I realized when his hand made contact with my face.

"Who said you could talk? Huh? Damn, I really wanted to do this nice and fast..." Lies, just putrid lies. "...but you give me no choice. Now, on your knees!"

He let me go and I did what I was told. I didn't want pain anymore, but I knew he wasn't going to be gentle.

Just like everyone else.

I suddenly felt myself being pushed forward, leaving me on all fours. I didn't dare to look back, I couldn't.

Then the pain came. I heard it before it spread over my back as the whip touched it. I bit my lips, holding back a cry, afraid to disobey one of the orders. Then another came, and another, and another... It seemed to have no end, like it would never stop. I tasted blood and something... salty.

"Oh, so you are not enjoying your punishment, crying over it. Ungrateful brat, do you know how much effort I'm putting on this?" A much harder blow sent currents of pain all over my body and I let out a cry.

"And also disobeying my orders. Are you really trained, Tetsuya-chan?"

The whip stopped moving and a sigh escaped my bloodied lips. Darkness started making its way through my head. My limbs were shaking by the effort and I could barely keep myself up at that moment, but I had to.

"Huh, it seems we need another punishment for you. But you may enjoy it anyways. After all you are just a dirty slut."

I felt pressure at my rear, just between my legs. I wasn't prepared for what I knew would happen, but what came next did not only steal my breath, but also made me fall into a restless sleep.

 

**Kagami's POV**

 

I was officially the most annoyed person in the whole world, I thought while the limo moved to our destination. Of course the other guys looked just as pissed as me, (except Akashi, obviously. He was always calm, that bastard) but I just couldn't believe they would force us to get slaves for a stupid class! It was insane! Legal or not it didn't change the fact that they were humans too, dammit!

"Kagami, could you stop humming so loudly? It’s annoying, nanodayo." said the glassed green-hair in front of me, finally breaking the tension that had been present since we got into the car.

"Sorry, Midorima, but I can't think of any rational way this is correct!"

"There's none, Bakagami. Just get over it."

Aomine's comments always managed to piss me off.

"Then why? Why do we have to do it?!"

"Calm down, Kaga-chin." said Murasakibara who, for once, wasn't munching on something, he just had an unopened bag of chips on his hands. "We just have to; you know how the university is like."

"But you all think the same as me; I can see it in your damn faces! Prestigious or not they can't force us to do something like this!"

"They can." said Akashi, visibly annoyed too. "And they did. Now, could you please shut up and stay still until we get there? You are getting us all in our nerves."

I sighed in defeat, knowing I couldn't argue with the emperor. But for fucks sake what the hell was wrong with them?! Did they also think that just because they had committed one or two crimes they were worth less than a human? It didn't make any sense, being treated as animals just because.

I had already told the university about my concerns, but they didn't even let me argue with them. It was a tradition, and every important person had to learn how to behave around those who were inferior to them. So. Damn. Stupid.

I felt the limo come to a stop and our driver opened the door.

"Sirs, we have arrived to our destination."

We got out of the limo and five guys were waiting for us outside in front of a dangerous and suspicious looking building. The moment I saw them I knew they were not good people. The others noticed it too.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen." said the one in the middle. "My name's Hanamiya Makoto and I am the owner of the Kirisaki Daîchi slave house. My coworkers here and myself will show you around to see if there's something you like." Something? "I guess you were already told of what to expect but, is there any question before we start?"

The same tense silence answered him.

He showed us a crooked smile.

"Good! Now, Kagami-sama?"

I was taken aback when I heard my name.

"Y-yes?"

"You will be coming with me, so please follow me inside."

"O-ok..."

He started walking inside the grey building and I moved to catch up with him. Shit, why was I so nervous? Oh right, I WAS BUYING A FUCKING PERSON AS IF IT WERE CLOTHES! Dammit I didn't want to do this, but I could fail the year if I refused to do it.

But what scared me the most was how I would be able to take care (and even hurt) another person if I could barely treat the maids and butlers like I had to.

The closer I got to the Kirisaki Daîchi slave house the more I got worried over it. I just hoped things would get better inside.

 


	2. The pain and a new beggining.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! I wrote another chapter!!  
> First of all, thanks soooo much for the comments, they really made my day!
> 
> Yoko_Fujioka & Reizjaruu13: hehe~ I laughed a lot with your comments, so I hope not to dissapoint you with the rest of the story, it will be of your liking, I promise! :D  
> sxeraa27: No spoilers! You must read the whole story just to know that! (yeah, I'm a bit cruel... Sorry :P)  
> Youkai_hime: Thank you so much for your comment! My first language is Spanish by the way!
> 
> Now, on with the chapter!  
> (WARNING: graphic depiction of gore in this chapter and descriptions that might disturb some people. If you don't like, don't read.)

**Takao's POV**

 

The first thing I realized when I woke up was that I was standing my hands and feet were tied in an x shape by chains. The second, that everything hurt.

I felt my skin pulling tight on my body, making everything itchy. I felt stinging on my back and front, arms and legs, bones and blood, on everything. The wounds on my body had not healed well, and from what I could see with the almost nonexistent light in the room they were not looking good. Most of them must have been infected because they hurt a lot and had a sickly-looking yellow tone. The whip wounds, knife cuts, rope burns, broken bones... The list was almost endless; it was like I was a sand mummy that had been used for years.

Correction, I WAS a sand mummy that had been used for years.

I didn't even try to pull on the bindings on my hands, I knew better, from past experiences that, having rope burns and cuts on my wrists and fighting the cuffs hurt a lot, and for a long, long time. I didn't dare to look up, so I kept my head low, pressed to my chest.

Not having anything to do and trying to postpose the pain that was to come, I let my mind wander anywhere except that place; remembering my past, who I was, why did I end up here... It was a daily ritual so my past-self wouldn't be lost in oblivion. After all, who, apart from myself, knew who the real Takao Kazunari was?

_A slut. A whore._

_An object._

_Daddy's toy. Daddy's plaything._

_A murderer._

_His murderer._

_A murderer._

_Blood, so much blood._

_Pain. Pain. Screams!_

STOP IT! I ordered myself with a shiver, not able to take all the images that were flooding my troubled mind. My breathing went faster and I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears. I closed my eyes with force, trying to stop the memories from coming back. The voices, the colors, the past.

It hurt, but I didn't want to let go. Not yet.

“Oh, you are awake, Kazu-chan!

Another voice that didn't belong to my head startled me and made me completely aware of my surroundings. I lifted my head to see a middle aged man smiling at me.

Not saying anything I just stared to his eyes, searching for something that told me he was not dangerous.

I got nothing, just a pair of emotionless black eyes staring back at me.

“W-who...?

“I'm your new master today, Kazu-chan! “He said enthusiastically. He took some steps closer to me. “I was told you were a trouble maker, right?

“W-ha...

“But don't worry! “He interrupted me. “I'm here to fix that.

He walked even closer to me, stopping some feet away. He extended his hand to my face, and I flinched when it touched me. I tried to move my head away, but the bindings didn't allow me to.

But, it didn't hurt. His touch was soft, and he was careful to avoid places that he knew would hurt me.

“So beautiful...” he said, caressing my cheek with his thumb. “At least no one has ruined such a cute face with those ugly wounds...

“Please...” I said, hoping this man would not hurt me like the others. He seemed to be nice, but I still had to be cautious. “Please master, I'll do anything... So please, I beg you, don't hurt me anymore!

He smiled. A ray of hope.

“Yes. Yes! That's what I want to see! Such a hope filled expression. Such a cute voice when pleading! “He applied force on my face, not letting me move it. Oh no, I thought, losing all the hope I had left. The guy started laughing like a maniac.

My facade of control fell almost immediately.

“I WANT TO SEE THAT FACE BEING WASHED AWAY WITH DESPAIR!!” He shouted. “I WANT TO HEAR MORE!!” Then he let go of my face and ran behind me.

No no no no NO!

My heartbeat rose and even if it hurt like hell I fought the bindings and tried to at least turn and see what the hell was the guy going to do.

Please no, please let me go!

“Please don’t...!

“Shhhh” I shivered, he was right next to my ear. “I will make sure to give you another judgment, and maybe you'll be free after it...

What? Another judgment? Could they let me go into trial again?

“...But you'll have to endure this, Kazu-chan. “he whispered. “Do it for me, ok? Kazu-chan~?

He didn't wait for any answer when I felt something on my back, which later exploded in thin lines of sharp pain as a knife cut deep on it.

I let my voice go. It just hurt so much.

“AAAAAAGH! STOP! STOP IT!

“Yes, Yes! That's right! “Another cut was made. I screamed in agony. “Keep it that way, continue screaming! Pleading for mercy!!

The stabs became more frequent, and I could feel the blood falling from the wounds to the floor.

It hurt. I screamed.

“Plea-please don't... stop...!! It hurts!

Whatever I said made him stab faster and deeper, he wouldn't stop.

I kept screaming, trying to lessen the pain using my forces on anything else. I tried to move my mind away from the agony, tried to fall unconscious again.

And then the other screams came.

_“Kazunari!!_

_“Son... Stop it!_

_“P-please... S-stop..._

_“I loved you..._

_I loved you..._

I felt a sharp stab in my arm, but this one was different than the others... It was... thinner.

I looked at the source of the pain and my heart skipped a beat when I realized what it was.

A hypodermic needle.

“I can't have you fainting soon, Kazu-chan” the man said walking in front of me. He started caressing my face again and moved away the tears as if nothing had happened. “We are going to have a good time before I send you to heaven.

What...?

“He...Hea...ven? “I repeated with a hoarse voice.

“Yeah! I was the one chosen to give you one last punishment before you end your phase in this world...

Was he... going to... kill me?

“... So I'm going to give you this last memory before you leave!

With that said, he proceeded to do the same thing he was doing before but now with my stomach and legs, not making my doubts clearer and scaring me more than before.

Was I... going to die?

 

 

**Kagami's POV**

 

 

I just had to put one foot inside the grey building to realize things were going to get worse. So. Damn. Worse.

The place was so dark inside that it needed to have numerous lamps in the walls to be able to see where you were walking to, making it look like some kind of medieval age prison (yeah, it WAS a prison, actually). The air inside was stuffy, humid and it smelled funny, like something had been rotten for ages. To make everything worse, moans and cries of all types could be heard across the stone and brick walls of the house. Gosh, it was like some creepy horror movie and we were even moving further into the place.

“Sooo, Mr. Kagami, is there any preference for your slaves? “asked the guy, Hanamiya, in a not-so-polite tone of voice.

Again, I was at a loss of words.

“Eh? Uhh... Preferences?

“Yeah, like some kink or fetish. Our slaves are labeled in different categories for our clients to choose from”. How could he say that being so calm?! Dammit he was worse than Akashi talking about his murder plans... “Do you have anything in mind?

Really, what. The. Hell.

“No, not really.

Hanamiya sighed and started walking faster, obviously annoyed by the fact of having to show someone like me around. Hey, I'm not happy to be here either, I thought catching up to him.

“Then, we shall start by the usual.

He stopped walking in front of a metallic door labeled "Public Ward".

“"Public Ward"? What is that? “I asked.

Hanamiya sighed again and even if I couldn't see it I pictured the face he should have put.

“In this house there are different types of wards, ranged from the slaves with the lowest crimes to the highest. This ward over here, “he said, pointing to the door” is the one that has the worst criminals in the whole place.

I gulped. Was I going to see serial murderers here? Why did I want a slave that could kill me at any time?!

“Uhm, is there any reason of why we should start here? “I asked. Yeah, I admit it; this was making me less comfortable by the second.

“Because the buying rate of this ward is the lowest. And of course, if you see the worst, you'll like anything later. “He answered unlocking the number pad next to the door and opening it. “But even though you might not buy anything here, if you see anything you like just let me know.

With that said and no room for comments he stepped inside the Public Ward. All I could do, after analyzing my options (which were follow or follow, by the way) I put my own feet inside the obscure hallway.

The door closed alone behind me with a loud thump. I had the urge to try the lock and run away, but something told me there was no way back.

We entered a room that held numerous, empty cells. All of them were clean, as if nobody had ever stepped inside.

“Why isn't there anyone here? “I asked almost immediately. I was prepared to see a guy who looked ready to kill his own mother, but there was nothing like that.

There was no one, actually.

“That's because there are not many who commit crimes as bad as to be here” Hanamiya told me, walking past the cells to another door at the end of the hallway. “There are three slaves in this ward, and they are all behind this door over here.

Unlike the other door, this one was not locked, and Hanamiya just pushed it to get to the other side. I had to stop before the door, take a deep breath, remind myself that this was all for my own future to finally gather the courage to step inside the real ward.

When I entered I hoped I had never done it.

The first thing that told me to run was the horrible smell in the room, like something dead. Then, I heard screams and mutters louder than before. When I looked around I saw six other doors and six windows to other rooms.

What I saw inside made me gulp.

On my left there was a window leading to a room where a single person was sitting on the floor. It was a naked woman whose age I couldn't tell, because her body and face were so distorted that I could barely recognize her as female. I took a step to the window, trying to take a closer look when the woman suddenly turned, looked at me directly to my eyes (I swear to god she did) and jumped to the window screaming something I couldn't quite get. I was so startled and confused that I fell to the floor when she did it.

What in the fucking hell...?

“Are you ok? “Hanamiya asked with no concern in his voice.

“Y-yeah...” I replied, still shocked watching the woman fight with the glass window. “Just why did she... Why is she...?

“She became dependent to drugs some years ago. “Hanamiya finished for me. “I told you. The ones in this ward are the worst. Come, we will go to the A rate ward next. It is the easiest one for newbies like you.

“O-ok.

I could finally advert my gaze of the crazy woman and look at Hanamiya, who had already started walking away from me.

I stood up and went to his side, taking a quick look at the empty rooms behind the windows.

Almost at the middle of the hallway there was another woman in a room, but this one was covered in shreds of clothes or something like that, so I could barely see her body. The only thing that stood out was her dirty blonde hair.

“Syphilis” Hanamiya briefly said, not even looking in her direction.

I mentally cursed myself for looking at her for so long. What the hell where those people doing here? What did they do to be treated like that? This began to look more like a mental hospital than a slave house but god; did they not have a heart, too?

Two of the Public Ward where two women that were mentally or physically ill, and as we moved closer to the end of the ward my fear of seeing the third slave grew to the point where I was afraid of leaving.

But as we reached the last pair of rooms, what I saw in the cell on my left made me stop on my tracks.

Just what the hell...?

 

 

 


	3. Shock and Cries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I promise I was gonna update yesterday!!! But then I read some comments and I had this new idea on my head and I just couldn't not write it!!  
> (it has been the longest chapter so far hehe).  
> sooo here we are, a new chapter.  
> Thank you soo much for reading!
> 
> Special thanks to  
> Yoko_Fujioka: Gosh I LOVE your comments! I'm sorry for what I did to Takao, but I couldn't find any other way Shin-chan would get interested in him if I didn't. Half of the chapter was meant for you to read it, so I hope you like it and keep supporting the story! 
> 
> Shiro & Youkai_Hime: this chapter is longer than the others! I hope you like it!
> 
> CuteSatan: Otra persona hispano-hablantee!!! Woho! El ingles realmente no se me da tan bien, pero espero poder escribir una historia con algo de sentido. Gracias por leer este fanfic aun cuando no está en tu idioma original, y si tienes algun problema solo dimelo y puedo empezar a postear los capitulos en español tambien. Muchas gracias por tu apoyo!

** Kagami’s POV **

 

What I saw on the other side of the glass made have nausea.

Inside of the room was a person who I first thought was another girl by its shoulder-length light blue hair, but realized otherwise as he was naked. But what made me not advert my gaze from the figure just like the other ones, were some things that shocked me to the core.

First, he was so small that he should not have been older than fifteen years old. His body was slim and you could see bones showing everywhere. He was shaking a lot; from cold maybe of how wet he looked. I could not understand how they would put a child in a place like this and in that condition.

Second, his body had so many scars on it that all you could see on the almost deadly-pale skin were yellows, purples and blues of every kind that looked extremely painful. Where those... whip marks?

And third, and with this the biggest reason of my actions, was that he was not alone in the room. There was another guy whose face only showed anger and disgust, that resembled Hanamiya’s in some way. But this one looked… way more aggressive and, there was lust in his dark features. At first I didn´t realize what he was doing there since I was focused on the petite boy, but when I heard a cry coming from him my attention went to the whole situation.

The man was standing next to the child, who was on a kneeling position and seemed to have trouble staying up. In front of him was a glass tank full of water, and he had his hands on its edge. He had trouble breathing too, and his eyes were quite swollen.

“What… is going on here? “I said, not realizing I had done it out loud.

“Well… he is…

“YOU STUPID BITCH!!

Hanamiya was interrupted when the man inside suddenly shouted and then…

What the actual fuck?!

The kid´s head was pushed inside the tank and was kept there by the man´s hand. I tried going for the door next to the window out of instinct, but Hanamiya stopped me.

“Wait! Stop that! He'll kill him!!” I told (well, shouted) Hanamiya, who, in response, put his arm in front of me not allowing me getting closer to the window.

I kept watching anyways for what seemed like an eternity; how the child tried to resist the water, how he fought the man´s hand with his little arms, how he lost all the air left in his lungs when the man kicked him in the stomach until he finally let go. The kid coughed loudly and tried his best to get oxygen into his lungs, but added to the trouble he had breathing before was the obvious fatigue of the effort he had done, so he could barely stay awake.

Hanamiya sighed, finally making me look away from the boy to him.

“He, as I was saying, is a criminal, who was put in this ward for his sins. “A kid?! Really?!” You see, the slave houses work as jails for those who try to go against the system, so the sentences have to be paid with the incomes they make or hours of use. This guy here” he pointed the window” is in the middle of a session right now. But, since this is the place where the most dangerous stay, he has a lifetime sentence.

I was dumbstruck. How in the fucking hell could a person live like that??

“But, he's going to kill him! Are you blind or something? The one being tortured is a fucking CHILD!

Hanamiya just chuckled in response and I had to resist the urge of not to punch him in the face. Did he just not care?! How could someone be so cold?!

“He deserves it “he said, turning away and starting to walk out of the room.

I was going to say something when I felt my heart stopping. I heard a splash at the other side of the window and I turned to see the exact same situation than before. For some seconds my eyes met cerulean ones across the glass. I did not know if the kid could actually see me, but I could see him. His fear, his panic, his dread, his sadness, his sorrow. Yeah, even though he was almost unconscious I could see it.

 His eyes were asking for help.

He released his last breath slowly, finally realizing nobody would save him, and I watched with distress as his lids started closing and his eyes lost color.

I had to do something. I had to change that. I couldn't just leave that kid there! No one deserved such punishment, not even a serial murderer (if he really was one). And I didn't want to feel bad later if I just left things as they were.

“Hey, are you coming?

I had found a solution.

I ran to the door and opened it before Hanamiya even had the chance to stop me, making the man inside the room jump and stop his current actions. The child was once again released, but this time he didn't take the same deep breath as before, and to my dismay he just stood still.

“Who the hell are...?

“Get away from that boy this instant. “I said, more serious than what I intended to while I got closer to the kid to check if he was breathing.

“What? But I paid for him!” the man replied, visibly furious by the situation.

He was, slowly but steadily, I realized when I got my ear close to his nose. The thing that scared me the most was how bad he was shaking, and he was indeed cold like ice when I touched him.

“Screw you, I bought this boy. Now get lost.

“I'm not going to go away you fucking brat!” the man said stubbornly.

I just had to show him my best murderous gaze (which was, by the way, natural) to run away as fast as he could, muttering some curses under his breath.

Hanamiya, who finally caught up to me put a hand on my shoulder.

“Kagami-sama! Wait! You'll get dirty!” he exclaimed, still in shock it seemed. “You can't just...

“Shut up and bring me a towel” I demanded, too worried to care about what he was saying.

“But...!

“Do it!

He was surprised by the order, but did what I told him anyways. While he went to get the towel I focused on the boy again.

I tried to lift him in order to check him better, but when I tried to put him into a sitting position he cried out in pain.

“I'm sorry, please endure it for a bit longer” I said, really meaning it.

I tried again, but this time making him rest on my chest so I wouldn't put such a big strain on his already tired body. He surprised me when he pressed himself closer to me, trying to get as warmer as he could with my body temperature. He grasped my shirt for dear life with his small fists, and even if I got soaked too by his actions, I couldn't care less.

Hanamiya came back with a towel and handed it to me, watching intently and confusedly as I wrapped the towel around the tiny frame of the boy.

“He's too cold...” I muttered, lifting him up and pressing him closer to me.

“Kagami-sama...” Hanamiya started”. Are you really going to buy this slave?

Dammit, I really wanted to punch him now, but I was using both hands in the kid.

“Yes” I said, quite convincingly.

Hanamiya's mouth gaped in confusion.

“But he's from the Public Ward! He is the lowest of the lowest! Just scum! Why would you want someone like that?!

Even though his words infuriated me more, I couldn't think of an answer to his question. Why would I? He was not my responsibility, I had nothing to do with him. If I hadn't come here today I wouldn't have met him, just continued my life as it was.

But to my mind came the image of his bright blue eyes, pleading for help, wanting to be saved from all that suffering.

He asked me for help. And I had to help him.

“Because I can, and because I just did” I said, suddenly remembering the words Akashi had said before.

I took out the money from my pants back pocket, carefully moving the kid to my left arm (Shit, how could he weight so little?), and gave it to Hanamiya.

 ” Send all the papers to my dorm in the university. I will be going now” I said, walking out of the room and to the place where we had entered.

Looking quite frustrated, Hanamiya still followed me taking quick steps to open the doors that led to the exit.

All the while the kid would whimper when I went too fast or tripped on my own two feet. He was still shaking, and it scared me that he would not be able to make it home. After all, it was an hour ride to the campus. But as I got to the limo that would take me home, I told the driver to put the AC to the max and put my own jacket on top of the child to make him a bit warmer.

As we drove away from the Kirisaki Daichi slave house, I kept asking myself what was I going to do with another person under my care if I could barely keep myself alive...

 

** Murasakibara’s POV **

****

“Nee, isn't there anyone more interesting than those girls?” I said, getting more bored by every second. I was already in my third bag of chips, and there was only one left. My patience would not last much longer.

“B-but we have covered almost the whole place!” the guy, whose name I didn't bother to remember said.

He looked quite nervous, but who wouldn't? If he couldn't show me anything better than those people who seemed to enjoy being treated as dogs, then he wouldn't receive my money.

“T-this is the last ward left” he announced stopping in front of a door labeled "Torture Ward".

“Hn” was my only reply. By the name I guessed this was a place where nobody wanted to be, maybe I would find someone here.

The guy opened the door with a sigh, that led to another hallway with many doors at the sides that where labeled with names.

When I looked up I noticed some color in my vision.

“Ah, Mido-chin” I said as I recognized the mop of green hair at the end of the corridor.

I walked to him, ignoring the words of the guy who was begging me to go and choose one slave fast, and saw that he was carrying a sheet in his arms. Overly curious, I went to him and noticed some strands of black hair on one of the sides.

“Murasakibara” said Mido-chin when I caught up to him.

“What' that?” I asked, defeated by curiosity.

Mido-chin didn't reply immediately, and he looked like he was having trouble coming to an answer until he finally seemed to find the correct words.

“He is, uhm... my...

“Your slave, right?” I finished for him.

He lowered his head and looked quite ashamed.

“Yeah...

“Huh, don't worry. We all had to...

“Did you also...?” He started, but then he shook his head in the middle of the question and looked to the one on his arms, visibly hurt about something”. Never mind, I need to go.

“But you...” He didn't let me finish my sentence when he started walking away from me to the exit.

What was wrong with him? I asked myself when I lost sight of him. And how could he choose someone that fast? According to the tour-guide guy Mido-chin had started by this ward, so that meant he only looked at one ward before getting someone. Was he really that eager to get out of the place that fast?

“Murasakibara-sama!” called the guy, starting to show his annoyance. He handed me a bunch of papers that had names and pictures on them. “Please choose a slave from this list, they are the ones in this ward.

“Okay, but what if I don't like any of them?

The guy became pale.

“Please, I...

“Just kidding” I said, starting to look at the list.

If Mido-chin wanted to get out of the place as fast as he could, maybe he had a reason to, so I had to do it too.

I started reading the first paper. It had a picture of a man in his early thirties. I didn't look at the name and kept reading at the other characteristics. The crime he had committed was sexually harassing and raping two teenage girls three years ago. Torture; cum denial.

........

Wait what? What the hell was that torture? Didn't he...? What did he...?

I shook my head and turned the page. What I just read had been weirdly disgusting and I needed to move on.

The next one was a girl on her twenties maybe, that had killed her own child because she had been hit by her boyfriend because of him. Her torture was getting raped twice a day. Ok, that was less shocking that the one before, but I didn't really want someone like that.

I kept turning the pages under the nervous gaze of the guy who was supposed to convince me, but there wasn't anyone that caught my attention. Most crimes where raping or killing someone, there was even a robbery, and the tortures where stupid ones related to the crime they had committed and, in some way, I thought that they deserved them. The list finally got to its last name and the guide guy dropped to the floor in defeat.

But when I started reading the summary of this slave I couldn't stop. The picture showed a guy my age, with black hair and grey eyes, with a mole under his right one. He looked quite attractive to me (no homo), but he caught my attention on how someone like that would be in a place like this. I read his crime first and, as weird as it would seem to someone who truly knows me, it shocked me.

He had been abused by his stepfather for many years, and in the end he ended up killing him. Then many doubts came to my head. Why would someone be punished if he had been suffering his whole life? I asked myself. Wasn't it the police's fault? Wasn't that the obvious thing to do in that situation?

I kept reading at his torture and, out of pure anger the list felt of my hands.

“Where. Is. This. Slave” I demanded, startling the guide guy who stood up immediately.

“The last one? He is over here...” he cautiously walked to one of the doors on my right and showed me the label.

Himuro Tatsuya, it said.

“Open the door.

The guy didn't even doubt as he proceeded to unlock the door, fearing the deadly aura that I felt around me.

The door opened with a creek, and when I stepped inside I realized that what I had read wasn't exaggerated.

Inside the room was the same guy on the picture, but this one was so thin that if it weren't for the mole under his left eye I wouldn't have recognized him. He was so slim that every single bone could be seen, making him look overly skeletal and pale. He had his legs and arms tied to the wall behind him, and many scars could be seen on both his wrists and ankles.

He jumped when he saw me, and stopped every movement. I approached him fast, and he started backing up against the wall to cover himself. I was scaring him, but I didn't care, I had to do something.

When I got in front of him I looked down at two plates that had been out of the reach of the chains. One contained dirty water, and the other dog food. At that moment I realized that he had been indeed famished as his torture description said. He was not allowed to eat nor drink for every two days, and he would have a plate of water and food just inches out of his reach all the time. The Tantalus torture...

I lowered myself to his level, making eye contact with him. He was visibly tense, keeping his body as closer as he could. He had been trying to reach the plate of water with all his force when I entered, but as I did so he gave up and instead chose to protect himself. He was afraid of me, afraid of what I would do.

Afraid that I would hurt him.

I didn't say anything for a while, and kept looking at him, waiting for him to calm down a bit. He didn't say anything, either, but he kept looking quite stressed of me being there. His grey eyes never left my violet ones.

I finally realized that he wouldn't relax if I didn't do anything that made him get to trust me, so I thought of a way he would.

I slowly reached for the bag that I carried. The guy flinched when I did so, and followed my movements with his eyes. When I found what I was looking for I took it out with my hand closed and extended my arm to the slave, whose breathing went faster and backed up as far as the wall would let him, obviously thinking my fist would hit him.

I stopped my hand inches from his mouth and slowly opened it. The guy looked with curiosity at the objects there, until he finally realized what they were and he opened his eyes in surprise.

“Here, this are yours” I said, getting one of the candies I had just taken out close to his mouth.

The slave looked at me, then at the candy again and finally back at me, not sure if I was kidding or I was telling the truth. His stomach rumbled, and I noticed he was fighting the urge of just taking them out of my hand.

I smiled reassuringly.

“Come on, take them” I said softly.

The guy blinked twice, and then slowly opened his mouth to take the candy in. He then proceeded to lick it with the tip of his tongue cautiously, until he finally closed his mouth around my fingers, which he then let me take out without biting, as I thought he would.

He seemed to enjoy the candy and resisted the urge of just swallowing it immediately. But after doing so, he looked satisfied and... happy.

He smiled. He smiled with the most beautiful smile I had ever seen.

I smiled too, caressing his cheek softly with my thumb.

“Good boy~ “I said, not sure of what to do later.

Then I stood up, making the slave flinch again but not as bad as before, and walked to the guide guy, who somehow seemed extremely relieved.

“I'll take him” I simply told him, turning my back on the slave and handing the money to the guide guy.

“Of course, Murasakibara-sama” he said receiving the money with both hands.

He then called someone on the hallway that would fetch the slave as I did all the paperwork needed.

I didn't want to do this at first, but now maybe I would be able to make someone's life better, I thought while I followed the guide guy to the offices at the back.

** Midorima’s POV **

When Hiroshi Yamasaki led me to the beginning of the tour and gave me the list of slaves on the Torture Ward I couldn't care less on the ones there. I didn't really care if they were murderers or not, but I got nervous just thinking that somebody who had the courage to kill me would share the same roof as me. But then I thought, why would I need to share the same roof as a killer? I could easily bind whoever I chose and limit him to the place he would work. Easy.

But, as I looked through the list and started to lose hope on finding someone who would suit my expectations I saw something that got me stuck on it when I read it.

It just had me thinking, how could this happen?

I asked Yamazaki about it, and he was confused at first, but then suddenly remembered something and took out the file from my hands.

“He is...” he told me, like he doubted if he could tell me what was going on. “He is not for sale.

“But he's... There's no way he's got a life sentence, this crime's not worth it, nanodayo” I told him.

“No, that's not the problem with him. He, uhm... He was diagnosed with Schizophrenia when he was judged, so as they thought he could be cured they left him on this ward...

“Schizophrenia? But how would they treat him here? This punishment is...

“We knew, Midorima-sama” he stated”. We knew that, but he gets better sometimes, and the system said that we should punish him when he's conscious of his crimes.

I was now curious. Schizophrenia was not something that had an on/off switch. If he was conscious of his crimes, then there was no way he saw them as bad if he did them in the first place. He wouldn't realize what he did was wrong.

I told my concerns to Hana and the reply came immediately.

“That's why we cannot sell him” he said, looking at the door that had this slave's, Kazunari Takao's name on it”. He has not gotten better, and since nobody could look after him since he killed his only family, the jury dictated a death sentence for him that was due for today.

Now I got even more curious. Death sentence because of Schizophrenia? That was completely treatable with medication and enough time to dedicate to him. And also, if the slave did realize his crimes were the wrong thing to do then he couldn't have something like that. It was impossible.

“Can I... see him, nanodayo?” I asked, just because I was astonished about the situation. I just couldn't believe that diagnostic.

Hana's face got a bit pale, but he answered me anyways.

“Do you really want to see that execution?” he asked.” His torture was not pretty, but this, I assure you, is worse.

“Yes, I do, nanodayo” I said, not that sure if I did want to, but sure anyways.

“Then please follow me.

He went to the door labeled with the slave's name and unlocked it. He went inside slowly, and I had to look around before entering too. There was nothing surprising at the other side, just another door and a window covering half of the wall. But as I put one foot inside I heard it immediately.

The cries, the pleads, the begging.

I saw Yamazaki stop in front of the window, and the covered his mouth as if he were to vomit. He was disgusted by what he saw, and warned me with his eyes again. But I entered the room and went to his side, now completely intrigued.

Even for someone who is aiming to become a doctor, what I saw got me speechless and mouth agape.

How could something like this happen...?

In the other side of the window was the most macabre scenario going on, and I could barely believe my eyes. There were two people in the middle of the room, the one tortured and its executor. All I could see in my field of vision was red.

Blood, so much blood flowing from numerous wounds on the slave's body to the floor, to the walls, even to the window between us when the other guy cut new lines and stabbed him somewhere clean while he laughed.

And the screams; the boy shouted for help, he begged the other guy to stop, but he seemed to enjoy hearing the pleads and his cuts became bigger every time.

This was not an execution, this was hell!

“Y-Yamazaki-san?” I whispered, not able to advert my gaze from the slave's pain-filled expression. “Why is he doing this, nanodayo?

Yamazaki took a while to answer, obviously in shock too.

“This slave's torture was... To be hurt whenever he was aware of what he did” he told me, choosing his words carefully”. He killed his own father by stabbing him numerous times, all the while pleading for the slave to stop.

“But this is... He can't be punished like that! The guy over there should have a sentence too! He's a complete maniac, nanodayo!

“But he hasn't killed anyone apart from slaves...

“Does that even matter here?!

Shit, I had tried to control myself before, but now I realized that I was as mad as Bakagami by the situation. Just because he was a slave they would treat him like a piece of meat? That was insane!

Then, another voice got my concentration back to the slave.

“Nee~ tell me...” the guy said”. Why should I stop, Kazu-chan? We are having so much fun!” He said it in a voice that almost made me throw up.

The slave was breathing too fast and had trouble speaking, but he looked so relieved when the guy stopped his actions for a while...

“Ple-please... I beg y-you...” he said with a hoarse voice. How long has this torture been going for his voice to be like that? How much had he pleaded with nobody helping him?

“But you didn't stop, Kazu-chan...” the other guy said with the same enthusiastic voice than before.

The slave's face showed confusion by those words, but the guy realized that and kept going.

“Why didn't you stop when your daddy asked for it?

And then the slave lost it. His eyes opened in surprise and his mouth opened to say something, but just a strangled noise came out.

He started convulsing violently.

“He's going into shock!” I shouted, and out of pure instinct ran to the door.

The guy who had been torturing the slave had backed up against the wall, probably scared by his condition. I ignored him and went to the convulsing boy to try and untie him. I fought with his ankle cuffs first, so he wouldn't collapse and hit the floor with his head, to then unlock the handcuffs being ready to catch him before he fell. It was difficult due to the fact that the slave was shaking and moving violently, but as I finally freed both his legs and arms and he was being supported by me, not really caring on my clothes getting soaked in his blood, I lowered him to the floor carefully to check him better.

“What did you give him?!” I shouted the torturer guy, not sure of the reason why I was so stressed.

The slave wouldn't stop convulsing, and it became worse by the second.

“I-it was just adrenaline... “the guy said.

Adrenaline?! Dammit! I thought, realizing this was not good. If he wasn't able to fall unconscious, then the seizures would keep going until his body didn't resist anymore. Also, he had lost too much blood, it was almost a miracle that he was alive right now. But it wasn't going to be for long if they kept going like that.

I thought of a way to stop the seizures without using any other medicine that could stop his heart if mixed with too much adrenaline, but I couldn't find any. Most seizures stopped when the patient calmed down, but how could I calm down someone who had been tortured like that?!

But then I got an answer. Even if I was not sure if it would work I had to try anyways.

I put my mouth close to his ear and whispered the phrase that I thought would work.

And it did.

The shaking became less violent, and I could finally hear some breathings coming from his nose, gradually becoming slower until he was normal again. He then stood still, looking at my eyes.

I saw hope. I saw his eyes pleading.

He was scared...

“It's okay,” I said, trying to calm down the slave. “Everything is going to be fine...

The boy didn't respond, obviously too tired to do so. But it scared me that he could not fall asleep; the pain he had to be enduring must have been huge! Just seeing those knife marks all over his body, and all the blood he had lost...

“Yamazaki-san” I called, not sure if he was still there or he had run away while I helped the boy”. Can you please give me a blanket or something soft, nanodayo?

The answer came, to my relief.

“Y-yes, Midorima-sama.

He came back immediately, and handed the soft sheet to me.

I tried my best to not move the boy so much in order to wrap him as best as I could to stop the blood, but every small movement made the slave whimper and cry out in pain. He was still conscious, I realized, but he wasn't aware of his surroundings.

I finally got to put the blanket around as many wounds I could, and left his face out so he could breathe if he had any problem to do so. He kept looking at me during the whole process.

I lifted him up bridal style, and it surprised me how little he weighted. How could someone live in such conditions?

My decision had been made, this boy would not suffer like that anymore, I was not going to leave him now.

“I'll take this one, Yamazaki-san” I told the guide, who already had the boy's papers in his hands.

“Of course, Midorima-sama. Should I send these to your dorm?

“Yes please” I said, realizing suddenly that I had to treat the boy fast. “I'll be going now.

On my way out, the boy still whimpered with every step I made, but I could see he was making an effort on not making many sounds. I looked down at him, and saw a pair of empty-looking greyish-blue eyes staring back at me.

He was scared, he didn't know what was going on.

He had asked for help so many times, but no one came...

“Shh, calm down” I said looking at those beautiful eyes.

A tear fell from his right eye to his cheek. He was afraid of what was going to be of him.

Remembering how the slave had calmed down a while ago, I repeated the same phrase to assure him he would be fine.

“You are not going to die” I whispered”. Because you have been forgiven already.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gawsh I hate/love torturing the ukes...  
> Anyways, Himuro has joined the crew! And sorry for not describing that much about him, but we all know Murasakibara's mind kind of only works around food (and that actually is why he chose him in the first place...) so his points of view is quite simple. But I promise, Himuro is as hurt as everyone else, so I hope his story will not dissapoint you.
> 
> Akashi's and Aomines part comes later and finally the cute fluff will start!! (Kyaaaaaa!! /////-/////)
> 
> Thanks for your constant support!


	4. The beauty and the beast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There, it´s complete.  
> Sorry it´s not as long as I wanted it would be, but I still tried u.u...  
> BUT fluf will be soooooooo cute and heart-breaking that I´ll make sure to make it up for this...  
> Anyways! Thank you all for reading this fanfic so far!!  
> I reaaally love you all!
> 
> Now, on with AkaFuri!!!!

** Aomine’s POV **

 

I had already been on the BDSM ward for like, two hours, and I still hadn't found anything I liked. C'mon, the name itself was sexy enough, and everything I imagined to see was boobs, boobs, and more boobs. And guess what? I saw some since most of the slaves were female but, WHY WERE THEY ALL SO UGLY AND OLD?! Ugh, this was so damn frustrating!!

I had seen some who were cute, but they looked so slutty that it kind of crept me out to have them around at home. This Hara-guy had showed me some girls that were quite nice at the end to talk to, since the slaves with lesser crimes stayed in this ward, but I finally realized that even though I had just wanted a hole to fuck (and boobs) it would become quite awkward to come home tired and see this girl who would just ask for sex there. After all, what could I talk about with a girl? Make-up?? That was not my thing, for fuck's sake!

“Gaaaaaaah! “I exclaimed putting my hands on my head”. Why is it so difficult!!

Hara blew a bubble with the gum he had been chewing for a while, as bored as me, it seemed.

“That's because the bests always go away first” he said, looking through a list on his hands, to finally give up and throw the paper to the floor. “Aaaand we are done with the girls here. Would you like to take a look at the Torture Wards, Aomine-sama?

“Torture Wards? “I repeated. What the hell? “Not really. Blood kind of creeps me out.

“Then there's no other option. There are no more slaves here; we already covered all the wards that had slaves being sold...

“Are you sure there's no one else? “I asked again. Shit, I couldn't go home with my hands empty, or the principal would scold me and I would fail this term...

Oh, I hadn't thought about that in a while...

CRAP THIS WAS EVEN MORE SERIOUS THAN I THOUGHT!

“Maybe...

“Maybe what?!” I grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him, quite hard.

He was startled by my actions and had to take a deep breath before answering. I was really stressed right now to just hear a "nothing".

“Maybe, with the specifications you said there's still someone...

“Who is it?!” Shit Daiki, calm down already.

“I-it is over here...

I let go of Hara-san's shoulder and he started going somewhere, as far as he could from me, so I followed him with quick steps. We went through the same cells as before, but we passed the entry door and went to the other side, where I had just seen three rooms that appeared to be empty. Hara-san took a file from one of the cells and handed it to me.

I started reading it anxiously, first the characteristics; blonde, athletic body, yellow eyes, tall, quite sociable and easy-going. It didn´t say anything about this girl´s boobs, but with the description above I got satisfied and asked Hara-san to show me this person immediately.

Shit, when he led me to the room this girl was I was so excited because I had finally found someone that could satisfy me that my expectation with this one were quite high. But then Hara-san made me go into a room with a glass on one of the walls that showed another room where the slave was being kept, and my face literally fell to the deepest place on Hell.

“So, what do you think?

“Are you fucking kidding me, right...?

The slave Hara-san had recommended me was sitting in a corner of the room. It was indeed blonde, with quite an athletic build and tall, and also attractive, but he had forgotten one detail… IT WAS A GUY.

“Why? Is there anything wrong?” Hara asked, completely unaware of my thoughts.

I decided to explain him with the simplest terms my advanced vocabulary had…

“He. Has. A. Dick. Are you blind or something?!” I said, my frustration becoming way more evident.

Hara blew another bubble and smirked.

“But with the qualities you specified there’s no woman in the world that would meet them, just men!

“How's that even possible?! I like girls not guys!

The motherfucker just laughed.

“Tell me, how would you ever find a slave girl who, apart from having sex with you, talked to you normally as if you two were friends, was able to play games and basketball with you, and was sexy at the same time?” He pointed to the slave, who was looking at the floor with sad eyes”. And even though I'm also straight, you have to admit that guy over there is hot as hell.

Goddamit I had to agree with Hara in that... I could see his entire body in the position the slave was in, and he was indeed sexy. His body proportions were perfect; slender legs, muscular arms and torso, long neck and a round, childish face. He was not small, his cock was quite big for his body, and it didn't even look as disgusting as I thought it would be. Even his nipples looked irresistible, those small, pink buds waiting for spring to bloom into beautiful flowers... His face, more than childish-like, was like a dog's, but those piercing yellow eyes were similar to those of a cat, making him look cute but fierce at the same time. Like a wild animal waiting to be tamed.

I found myself licking my lips just by admiring his figure, but his eyes were just... so shiny, so full of life, so untamable and so... looking directly at me with curiosity...

He smiled at me comically and moved his lips saying something...

"Pervert."

 ...but then looked at the floor again still smiling.

I felt my face getting hotter and realized I was blushing.

Holy crap I was blushing because of a guy. Daiki you have to calm down, breath! Think about boobs, yes! Round, soft boobs. Boobs bouncing everywhere, a girl with a nice smile and chest in bikini, a blonde slave with a beautiful smile and shorts...

FUCK! WHAT DID HE DO TO ME?!

“If you are still not sure about this...” I heard Hara say, finally making me look away from the slave to him. Shit that had been dangerous” ... We can show you what more this guy has to offer.

“Like what?” Why did I even ask?! I was not interested!

“Like making a live demonstration, of course!” Hara-san went to a phone next to the door that led to the room the slave was in and pressed a number on it. After waiting some seconds, he talked again “Bring them to Kise Ryouta's cell. “like it was some kind of code.

“And what is that supposed to be?

“You'll see...” he answered blowing another bubble just when two other men entered the slave's room by the other door inside.

I saw the slave flinch when he heard the door opening, and he looked at the two guys with scared eyes, completely losing the shine they had just had seconds before. He pressed himself further to the wall, as if he could become one with it, and he started to panic. He looked at me nervously, and then back at the two men, as if he were asking what was happening.

“Hey, Ryo-chan~ “one of the men, the bigger one, said. “Seems someone wants to buy you today...

The other guy laughed and started approaching the frightened slave.

“Wait! What the hell are you doing? “I asked Hara-san, who smirked again.

“Just a little show to convince you. Calm down, they won’t go that far.

That didn't help to calm me down, actually.

The man had reached the slave and went for his arms, which the blonde had hidden behind his back.

“Not cooperating, huh? “The smaller man said, and then forced the slave to take out his hands by punching him on the stomach, hard.

The slave coughed and tried to cover himself from the upcoming blow the man had prepared if he didn't obey, and he was successfully captured by rough hands and tied up with rope.

“Come on! Let's give your potential master a nice look!

The bigger man approached them too, and with the help of the other guy they managed to lift the slave and put him in the middle of the room, standing up and facing Hara-san and me.

He had already given up, and tears had started falling when he realized fighting was useless.

I could not stop looking, not even when I realized what they were going to do.

“Stop this! “I shouted when I saw the slave's tear covered face. Dammit, I really didn't want to see him cry like that! He looked really scared, and it was all because of me.

“Hey, easy! “Hara said again “You are going to have a good time here, just relax and enjoy the show!

Shit shit shit shit! No! Stop this! I thought when I saw the big man, who was holding the slave still by keeping his hands on top of his head, touching the mentioned’s body. He first touched his neck as to prove that if the slave did anything out of the ordinary, he would be punished. Then he moved lower and started caressing his chest in slow motions until he finally found a nipple and began twisting and pinching it.

The slave closed his eyes in shame and tried to evade eye contact with me, obviously embarrassed because of what was being done to him.

But I didn't want that to happen! I wanted to say, but I could just stare.

The hand suddenly left his nipples and went lower, and lower, and lower... The slave's eyes shot open and a cry left his throat.

“P-please don't...” he started, but the smaller man came close to him and gave a squeeze at his cock, successfully shutting him up.

"I'm sorry" I just moved my lips so Hara-san wouldn't notice, because it just hurt me too much to see such a beautiful creature changing like that. He was scared, he was shivering, he didn't have enough force to fight back and he knew it. How long had he been feeling that? Not being able to save himself and not being able to trust anyone on helping him...

"I'm sorry!" I repeated, but this time, to my surprise he saw me and smiled again with teary eyes, but this time it was not that bright as before.

"It's not your fault." I read from his lips, and it actually hurt me more than before.

“Oh~ You still haven't gotten hard, huh?” The smaller man said moving his hand up and down on the slave's dick, making him close his eyes again and bite his lower lip”. Did you like this new master so much that you didn't want to make him go away?” What the hell was he saying? There was no way he could have liked me if I was the reason why he was going through this in the first place!

But then I saw the slave blush, and realized what the disgusting man was saying was true.

He had really… liked me?

“So it’s true! “The bigger man said. –Hey, then why don’t we show him what a slut you are, Ryo-chan?

They both laughed and the smaller man proceeded to lift the slave’s legs so his rear was completely exposed. The blonde tried to resist by kicking and trashing as best as he could, but the man´s force was too much for him. Then the guy went to a closet in one of the sides of the room and opened it. He looked for something in there and when he found it, he brought it to the slave.

My blood started boiling at just the sight of the sex toy he had in his hand.

“Hara-san, stop this immediately” I said, so furious that even I felt the aura around me.

“Oh, come on! It has just gotten interesting! “he answered enthusiastically.

“Stop! Please! “I heard the slave say, utterly terrified. I looked again at the window and saw the smaller man probing at his entrance with the toy and I just let my fury go wild when I saw the slave whispering another begging directed at me.

“Please, please help me!”

I turned and grabbed Hara by the collar of his shirt, lifting him up some centimeters.

“Stop. It. This. Instant. “I repeated, shaking him with every word I said.

His face went pale, and the bubble he had been making popped all over his mouth because of how startled he was.

“STOP! DON’T…” The slave screamed, and my grip on Hara´s shirt tightened.

“Okay, okay! I´ll stop it!

I let go of Hara and he ran to the same phone as before, but didn´t press any numbers this time.

“Let the slave go, it´s enough” sounded a shaky voice inside the room, and the slave was released right away. The men didn´t even bother to put the slave on the floor gently, they just let him fall to the ground with a loud thud and he whimpered in pain. Then they left, muttering some curses under their breaths.

The kept looking at me with surprise, though, and I looked at him too without blinking.

“I’ll buy him. “I ordered, like it was obvious already. The slave´s eyes opened with shock and I had to smile at the sight.

He opened his mouth to say something, but he closed it again and stood still.

“Then please follow me to go sign his papers, you will meet with him later” said Hara, with his mouth still dirty with gum.

I said nothing and just kept staring at the slave’s eyes.

My new slave´s eyes.

He smiled again and whispered some words.

“Thank you.”

 

** Akashi’s POV **

****

“No, this one is not good either” I said, once again unsatisfied by the slave that had been shown to me. I had already gone through half of the slaves in the BDSM ward that were being sold, and I still couldn't find anyone that would fit what I wanted.

They were not bad slaves, they were actually pretty obedient and polite, both the girls and boys in there. But that was what didn't convince me at all. The second I entered to a cell to talk with a slave, they would immediately stop everything they were doing and start bowing at me, obviously because of fear.

It disgusted me. They were just examples of how much could the human race fall, and I was considered into that category too.

But I was not like those dogs, I was Akashi Seijuuro, the heir to one of the most powerful companies in the whole world, and someone like me had to have the best.

I had to have the best.

I had tried asking Kojiro Furuhashi to show me recently brought slaves, hoping at least to see some kind of human-like personality left in one of them, but they were all the same; broken, useless and empty bodies.

That was, of course, until I heard the screams.

Furuhashi excused himself when he heard them, aware of what was going on, and ran to one of the cells on the hallway we were currently in. Out of curiosity I followed him, and it surprised me what I found.

At first I thought the screaming had come from a slave who was being punished, but as seeing one of the three men inside holding his ear with a pained expression and the blood on the slave's lips, I realized otherwise.

“You damn brat! “The injured guy shouted at the slave, who was now being held back by two more men.

The slave smirked, and spit something to the floor. I caught a glimpse of a bloodied object, and just had to deduce it was a piece of the pained-looking guy´s ear.

“Don´t. You. Ever. Get that close to me again, bastard” the slave said, emphasizing every word coldly.

Furuhashi had entered the room and was in front of the slave right now, glaring at him. He then raised his hand and let it fall on the slave´s cheek, who seemed not to care much and just closed his eyes at the impact.

“Listen to me, scum” Furuhashi started with a harsh tone”. Today a group of very important people have come to buy the ones of your kind. Now, if you want to leave this place fast, then you better behave.

The slave smirked again; completely unaware of the cold glares he was receiving.

“And why would I?” he asked cockily”. Why would I want a fucking _master_ that did the same you guys do, but at whatever time he pleases? And why would someone want me? “He stopped for a while, and then, as if he had remembered something he exclaimed sarcastically”. Of course! It must be some useless rich guy that has no idea of what suffering is! Oh, I would gladly accept someone like that!

Furuhashi was preparing his hand to give him another slap and erase that smile from his face, but I had the urge to interrupt him. For some reason this slave intrigued me. Finally, someone who was not broken and had yet some spirit had appeared! But still, I had to prove he was not as scared of me as the others, so before Furuhashi had the chance to act, I walked to him, got him out of the way and faced the slave.

“Oh really? “I asked, wearing the same smile as the one the slave had some seconds before he saw me. He was startled, but did barely flinch”. Then, you wouldn´t mind being taken by me, would you?

The slave looked warily at me, analyzing who I was, trying to get what my intentions were. I had just appeared out of nowhere and he had been talking about me in a wrong way, I must have been a surprise to him, it seemed. He looked at Furuhashi, who I realized had been doing signals with his hands trying to warn the slave of who I was in reality. He was about to speak again, finishing his short impression of me and having thought what he could say, when one of the two guys who were holding him still gave him a punch from behind.

“How dare you keep silent in front of Akashi-sama! Insolent bitch! “He gave him another punch, and the slave coughed blood, but I didn´t know whose blood was that, the slave´s or the injured guy´s. Either way, he recovered fast from the blow and glared at him.

“Dare do that again…” he warned, forgetting me for a moment.

The guy was just about to do it again, when I realized that I too, had been glaring at him with fury and he had seen me. He jumped, and stopped his actions.

“Let him go” I ordered, taking advantage of the situation to watch how the slave would act if I showed him my real personality.

Both men let him go immediately, and the slave brought his hands to his front, rubbing his wrists and observing me in detail. He had finally realized, after seeing both men´s frightened faces how much power I held within my person. His face had become a bit paler, and every insolent feature in his face had disappeared. Dammit, I had really hoped this guy would be different… It was no use; they were all worthless.

Or that I thought before I saw the cocky smile back in his face.

“Yeah, sure”. he said comically”. Do as you please with me, _master”_ His face suddenly changed from a childish look to a deadliest expression in less than half a second. He then added coldheartedly”. Don´t you even try or I’ll make sure to kill you while you sleep, bastard.

I smiled victorious. I had found someone worth my time and patience.

With quick steps, and indifferent of the stares the other men and Furuhashi had towards the insolent slave, I approached him and caught his jaw with an iron grip that would surely leave scars. The slave squirmed under my touch and tried to take my arm away by grabbing it with both hands. He tried to push it, but to no avail, until he finally stood still and kept glaring at me with frustration and visual contact with me, not flattering for any second.

“If you are so sure… “I started, slowly but with a tone that would have made many run away instantly. “…then why don´t you try? I´ll let you have some advantage.

To my surprise the slave did flinch, but when I thought he would stay paralyzed by my words, finally noticing that the temperature of the room had gone some degrees lower because of me, he did something that I would have never predicted.

He spits at me.

“Go. Fuck. Yourself. “He replied, his voice full of venom.

Such an admirable determination… So perfect… Such a strong will waiting to be tamed…

He was already mine.

I brushed his spit away with my other hand and, to his, Furuhashi´s and the three other men´s (who had stood there paralyzed by our actions) surprise, I smiled and just let my grip on the slave´s jaw loosen.

“I´ll take him. “I said, leaving the room without looking back.

From where I had left the slave, I could already deduce how his face must have looked; panicked, despaired, afraid. Oh, such a lovely show, I thought while imagining it. His insolent, hazel eyes getting bigger, his breath going faster, his heartbeat increasing in speed just because of my movements.

I would enjoy having someone as that as my slave, to finally be able to tame someone from the start. It would be priceless.

I had found my next prey.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, you might think that Kise is actually quite "healthy" for this fanfic, but being a sexy slave is not everything he has to offer... Aomine will later realize that some mistakes can lead to complicated scenarios they will both have to go through...
> 
> Secondly, I chose to give Furihata a different personality than is way stronger than his usual self, since it would be too much for the emperor to even care of what was happening to his precious Chihuahua. But, again, he is still as broken as everyone else, you just have to wait a bit for that stage to appear and for Akashi to realize his strong-willed boy has a long way to go, and he has to help him.  
> Thank you so much for reading!!


	5. Safety

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really couldn't wait to update this chapter, so the other guy's parts will come next.  
> It's KagaKuro's time and the fluff will finally start!
> 
> Please forgive my grammar mistakes because I know there are many in this chapter, but I'll edit it when I upload the next chapter.
> 
> Thank you soooo much for your comments! I really love reading them and it makes me happy that there are a lot of people that enjoy this kind of stories as much as I do!
> 
> Now on with the story!

** Kagami’s POV **

When the limo finally stopped in front of the mansion the dorms were in, I didn't even wait for my driver to open the door for me. Instead, I chose to kick it open and run as fast as I could with the now unconscious kid still in my arms, his shivering worse than before.

I didn't pay attention to the things the maids and butlers that were currently on the main entrance exclaimed when they saw me (just heard many "Kagami-sama's!"), and ran up the steps of the hall stairs four on four, went pass all the other guy's rooms until I finally got to the end of the hallway to mine. Again, I opened the door with a powerful kick, successfully breaking the lock (even though the keys were on my back pocket) and barged in fast.

Then, as I went past the kitchen and the living room to finally enter my own room, I didn't know what to do.

I actually had no idea of what I was going to do with the child in the first place, but I had to thinks fast, he was not going to resist much more.

How could I warm a kid who was close to freezing to death? I asked myself looking around. My bed? No, it would not be enough. Leaving him in front of the fireplace? No good either, it was not on, and it would take me a while to warm it a bit. Maybe giving him something warm to drink, like hot chocolate? Nu-huh, he was not that conscious to take it properly and would probably choke on it...

I looked around wildly, trying to find something that would work (if it was instantly, better) but I couldn't find anything! The kid's shivering was becoming worse and worse, and his cold, tiny hands kept their grip on my shirt as if it were a life line. It hurt me to see him like this, and I wouldn't forgive myself if my efforts were not enough to save him.

As I landed my gaze on the bathroom's door an idea came to my mind. Maybe I was still in time to save him, I thought while walking to the room.

I entered the small place that had no more than a sink, a toilet and a bathtub next to the opposite wall of the door, and went to the last one mentioned fast.

I shifted the kid's weight to my right arm and with my free hand proceeded to turn on the hot water to the max. I sat on top of the toilet waiting for the water to warm up, the child resting on my legs and trying to get just a bit warmer by getting as close as he could to me. His pained and tear-stricken face made me completely aware of what he was going through. My heart shrunk at the sight, I couldn't believe someone could be going through this just because. He was just a kid! And he was fighting at such a short age and against so unfair enemies, goddamit! How did people even accept something like this?? What about his parents? What about his family? Did they just not care? Did anyone care at all in the first place? If they did, why did they leave him alone?

As more and more questions flooded my mind, the kid suddenly shifted in my arms and slowly opened his eyes, to close them right away because of how bright the room was.

“Hey, are you awake? “I asked in a soft voice. I didn't want to startle the boy, but as he heard me his body tensed even more than before.

“C...co-cold....” he whispered, finally able to open his eyes.

His foggy gaze fell on my eyes and stayed there, and even though I knew he was terrified, he pleaded me for help, to save him from that cold.

“I know, I know” I said, pressing him closer to me to assure him I wouldn't hurt him. He seemed to relax a bit because of my actions.

He pressed his face on my neck, resting it just below my chin and I couldn't stop a shiver that went through my spine. Dammit, he was really cold! His warm breath touched my bare skin, and I realized it was not as hot as it was before. He was losing temperature too fast.

Without moving much, I checked the water temperature with my hand so it wouldn't be too hot as to burn the kid. It was perfect.

Then I stood up abruptly, realizing I shouldn't have done that when the child jumped because of it and looked at me with a frightened face.

“I’m sorry, I didn't mean to do that” I apologized, hurt after seeing his eyes again.

I didn't wait for an answer coming from the boy, and instead chose to finish what I had intended to do from the beginning fast.

But when the child realized he was being taken away from the heat my body irradiated, his breathing started to speed up. He got startled, and with a terrified expression he realized what I was going to do the moment he saw the water below him.

“N-no... P... p-please...” he whispered with a raspy voice between breaths and shivers. Tears started flowing.

My chest suddenly felt heavy.

“Shh, it's ok” I said, trying to get him to calm down. “This is not going to hurt you.

It didn't seem to work. He started fighting against my arms to get closer to my body and as far away as he could from the tub, whimpering in pain when he moved but barely making any progress.

What was going on? Did he not want to get warmer?

When he realized my arms were resisting his trashing, he looked at me again. This time the tears were falling nonstop from his eyes, and he looked so scared that my heart skipped a beat.

“N-no m... more w... Wa-water...” he whispered again, and I finally realized what was wrong with him.

Fuck! I mentally cursed. How didn't I realize it before, goddamit! My fists clenched at just the memory of the child's face inside the tank, pleading for me to help him. He had been going through that punishment for gods know how much time, and that was actually the cause of what he had being going through right now.

But shit, there was no other way to help him!

“I’m sorry...” I started. When I pronounced those two words, the kid got paralyzed. “...but I have to do this.

His eyes opened in fear when my arms started moving again, getting him closer to the bathtub and not seeming to stop.

“N-no! Ple...ase... D-don't...” he begged, and I had to resist the urge of stopping and doing what he was asking for. But this was meant to help him, not to hurt him more.

“This is not what you think it is...” I tried again, realizing his breathing was dangerously fast. “I’m trying to help you!

He didn't seem to get the meaning of my words, and instead of calming down, he began moving desperately when he saw that the water was just inches from him.

He looked at me again, and muttered a final plead, noticing his efforts weren't making any progress. I observed his sad eyes, not giving him any answer at my loss of words. He finally closed his eyes slowly, preparing himself for the blow.

I sadly realized that that was his way of giving up.

“I'm sorry. “I said, lowering him the last inches to the water.

When the tip of the kid's toe touched the water, he jumped, not completely prepared for what was going on.

I slowly lowered him a bit more, and his eyes opened in surprise at the sudden heat coming from the supposed-to-be cold water. As I kept lowering him into the bathtub, his eyes watched the water with curiosity, not sure of what was happening. His breath started to slow down as his lower half was fully into the water, and he finally released one long sigh when his chest was finally submerged, releasing all the tension from his body and letting my arms accommodate him inside the small space. I smiled at the sight.

“See? Everything's fine! “I said, letting his back rest on the side of the tub and taking my hands out slowly.

I observed his dazed and calm expression for a while, and felt my heart becoming warmer. He stopped shivering after a few seconds, and I was so relieved that I couldn't stop smiling. I sat on the toilet again so he would be able to see me if he got scared. He must have already realized that I did not meant to hurt him, because when his eyes landed on mine he opened his mouth to say something, but chose to close it again.

“Do you feel better? “I asked, and smiled again when he slowly nodded. “That's good...

I stood up cautiously, checking for any sight of fear in the child's features. There was none, so I went to the drawer below the sink and fetched a pair of scissors. Then, I went to the kid's side and slowly lifted the scissors in front of him. He looked at them warily, but did not jump in fear.

“This are not going to hurt you” I assured him, speaking with the softest voice I could. “Can I... Cut your hair a little bit? “I asked slowly, making sure he understood the question.

He did, and after some seconds he nodded again.

“Ok. “I said, and started moving the scissors close to his forehead so I could cut his bangs first.

He closed his eyes tightly, probably just because of past experiences, but as I cut the first strand of hair he opened them again, realizing I was not lying.

I had already touched his hair before, but now that I was able to feel it freely as he had given me permission to do so; I realized that it was indeed as soft as it looked.

Long, light blue strands of hair started falling into the water around the kid, who had finally relaxed into my touch and the sound of his hair being cut. He looked so peaceful that I could barely believe he had been the child begging for help back in the slave house. But it was good that he was starting to feel better.

When I finished with his front I stood still at how beautiful he looked. He had a round, small face with childish features that were almost feminine. His whole body was quite small and now, finally able to see the face that had been hidden behind his hair, he was actually pretty cute.

He noticed my movements had stopped, and opened his eyes to catch me staring at him. I felt myself blushing as he realized what I had been doing, but surprised me when his lips curved in a tiny and almost unnoticeable smile.

I smiled at him too, and proceeded to cut the rest of his shoulder-length hair so it would be more comfortable for him. He kept his eyes open this time, staring at his hair falling to the water.

While I cut strand after strand from behind him, I looked at the back of the kid's neck that was covered of wounds. Marks of fingers and cuts were visible with a dark shade of blue, contrasting with the pale tone the kid's skin was. It hurt to see those painfully looking wounds on such a weak being, and I kept asking myself over and over, what did he do to deserve this? I still didn't know what I was going to do with the child, but from now on it was my responsibility to keep him safe. I wouldn't let him go through something as traumatizing as that again.

When I finished cutting the last part of his hair, I went in front of him to see if I had cut equally at both sides. But, when I looked at his face, I realized he was starting to fall asleep as he was fighting his lids to keep them open. He didn't even see me in front of him, but I chose not to bother him and instead collected the hairs floating on the water and took them out.

Then I went back behind him and put my hands on his head.

“Can you rest your head here? “I asked while applying a little bit of force so I could guide his head to a space that would support his neck while I washed his hair.

He let me move him easily and without complaints, obviously too tired to answer. Then, I grabbed a bottle of shampoo and poured a bit on my hands to start washing him.

I started slowly and softly, so he could get used to the feeling before I actually made the cleaning. I massaged his scalp in circling motions; starting from his forehead to the back of his ears. He closed his eyes and let out a long and satisfied sigh.

“Do you like it? “I asked, just in case he was bothered by it.

He nodded slightly, trying to keep my fingers on his head. I smiled and kept my ministrations, moving my hands through his head with a bit more of force. He didn't look like he cared, so I poured some more shampoo to start washing him properly when he did something that startled me.

“I-it feels g-good...” he whispered nervously, as if he was scared of what I would do to him if he did that.

I didn't expect an answer like that one, but hearing his normal and calm voice after the pained begging and cries made my chest fill with an unusual but comfortable warmth. He was finally out from that suffering.

“That’s good! “I assured him so he knew I was not mad at him talking.

I kept washing his hair in silence after that, feeling every strand go through my fingers with ease. It was not that tangled, so I barely needed to pull some knots and they would untangle easily.

When I finally finished rubbing every spot of his hair to take out the dirt, I grabbed the showerhead hanging from the wall and turned it on at medium force. Then, I covered the kid's forehead with my hand so the water wouldn't get to his eyes and with the other directed the stream to his hair. The foam began being washed away by the water along with some hairs that hadn't fallen before, successfully cleaning the child's hair completely.

His eyes were still closed, and I had thought he had already fallen asleep. But then, out of nowhere, his mouth opened slightly and muttered something that if I hadn't been paying attention I would have missed it.

“Thank you” he had whispered, then he smiled and fell asleep at last.

He smiled with the most beautiful smile I had ever seen, and I stayed mouth agape for a long time by it.

After I went back to reality, I stared at him for a while longer, thinking how cute that had been. He was breathing steadily, taking long breaths and releasing them shortly after doing so, repeating the process as he kept sleeping. I smiled at him again, and went back to do what I had left unfinished.

I gave his hair some more rubs, checking for any shampoo left and wrapping it in a soft towel later.

Then, I went to his side grabbing the bar of soap. I hadn't done this before since I had thought it would make the kid feel uncomfortable and tense, so now that he was asleep I started rubbing the soap over his body to clean him completely.

I started with his legs, slowly at first, afraid that he would wake up. But his breathing did not flatter, so I started rubbing harder, watching the dirt come out from his body and to the water, revealing more and more wounds on his pale skin. His ankles had red marks of rope burns and chains, and I was careful to clean that part softly so I wouldn't open them again.

Then I moved higher, stopping at his private parts and choosing to clean them fast to keep moving up. It embarrassed me to do it at first, but if it made the child feel a bit more comfortable then I didn't mind it.

When that part was done, I started with his stomach and chest. He didn't have many wounds here, but as I rubbed at places I thought were dirty, I realized they were different colors that painted his skin. Different shades of blues, yellows and reds made their way through his chest and to his arms too. I didn't want to rub in that place much, fearing that I was causing any kind of pain to him, so when I thought it was enough I continued with the rest of his body.

Many more wounds appeared as I kept cleaning; on his wrists, his hands, neck, back... I couldn't even tell how many they were; it just sent shivers down my spine seeing them all over the body of such a cute creature. How could something like this happen...? I asked myself again, looking at the peaceful face of the sleeping child. How could people be so cruel?

When I found that he was clean enough, I let the water, that had now cooled a bit drain, then wrapped the kid in another soft towel fast, not wanting to make him feel cold again, and took him out of the bathroom.

I went to my closet with the child still in my arms looking for something that would fit him better that my own clothes, but found nothing. In the end I grabbed a normal shirt, since it was just meant to keep him warm through the night.

I then walked to my bed and put the kid on top of it, removed both towels, dried him properly, put my shirt on him and finally left him lying there with his head resting on the most comfortable pillow I had, and he was still peacefully sleeping when I covered him with all the blankets I found in my room.

He was finally ok, and I couldn't be happier and glad because of it.

Still, I couldn't believe what was going on; I had bought a living person to be my slave. Of course after seeing how the child had been tortured I wouldn't allow myself to treat him like that, but I still had one concern...

Would the university still let me treat him like I wanted and not like the guy I saw at the slave house?

If they didn't, I was sure I would still fight against them. I wouldn't let that kid suffer anymore. But it still scared me; it was the university that forced me to buy him on the first place after all so,

Would I be able to protect the child as I had promised?

 


	6. Forgiving

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, sorry it took me a while to update.  
> I have not been feeling well, and I tried to write a bit but it just didn´t work.  
> Hopefully next chapter will be for tomorrow.
> 
> Well, now I feel better and its time for some MidoTaka fluff!  
> (this parts are kind of difficult to write since I need some medical terms and blah, so if there´s something wrong with the facts I mentioned, sorry :/)
> 
> WARNING!: explicit violence and mentions of gore and blood in this chapter! (don´t like, don´t read)
> 
> *Oh! I almost forgot! Here's my reply to Shadow's question on last chapter.  
> Kuroko is 15, Takao 16 and Furi's 17. The other guys are all 18 yo except for Himuro who's 19.  
> Thank you so much for your comment!

** Midorima’s POV **

When I finally got to the hallway with the doors that lead to our dorms, I noticed Kagami doing something to his. While I got my keys from my bag without moving the slave in my arms too much, I called for him.

  “Kagami” I said, for which he jumped and hid whatever he had in his hands behind his back. Just what had he done?

 “A-ah! Midorima! “He exclaimed, as if nothing was going on.

Such and idiot.

 “What did you do now, noonday? “I asked, listening to the rustle of the keys at the end of my bag.

  “I, ehm...” he slowly took his hand from behind his back, showing a piece of metal that looked slightly familiar.

  “You broke the door, again?

  “Yeah... I was in, kind of a rush back then... Wait a moment, is that...?” He suddenly realized the sheet I had on my arms and pointed to it.

I felt a wave of guilt coming from my chest, and I couldn't help but remember the slave back in the slave house and the torture he had to endure.

It must have hurt so much...

  “Yes. “I answered, knowing what he meant. I finally found my keys and took them out, and started to try the lock.

  “Is he... Alright? “Kagami asked, and it surprised me the amount of concern on his voice. “I mean, the sheet's bleeding...

Shit, so that was the wet thing I felt on my hands! I started to fight the lock faster, but it wasn't working.

  “No, he's not” I answered, and then the door finally opened”. Please excuse me.

  “Huhm, yeah...” I heard Kagami say right before I closed my door shut.

 

I ran through the dorm without hearing the slave whimper as before, but when I got next to my bed and took the sheet away from his face, I noticed he had been biting his lower lip to endure the pain.

  “Hey, stop that, you are hurting yourself” I whispered, but immediately regretted it when I realized how stupid that had been.

But the slave obeyed anyways, and slowly let his lips part a bit but not being able to close them back again.

He looked so tired, looking at some point between his eyes and me but not really focusing on anything at all, almost as if he were a doll.

I brushed that thought away and started lowering the slave on the bed. When his back made contact with it, he hissed and shut his eyes, and as I kept lowering him (I had no other choice but to continue) a cry would escape his lips whenever a raw spot of his skin touched the mattress. When I finally had him lying on the bed, I took my arms from under him with the softest motions I could, but it didn't stop me from making the boy feel more pain.

  “I’m sorry” I said, aware of the tension that had once again showed on his stiff shoulders.

I let him rest for some seconds, hoping that the pain would subdue a bit while I checked at his wounds. Then, I carefully unwrapped the sheet, gently moving the material and leaving his back still pressed to it.

When I did so, every memory of the slave house came rushing back to my mind, and I had to grab the frame of the bed to steady myself and not faint. I had seen many things back at the hospital, but this was worse than anything. I didn't have to be a genius to know that it was a miracle he was still alive.

Every single place of his chest and stomach was marked with some kind of wound; painted with red, as if his body was a canvas. The lines of the knife cuts were still open, gradually letting the small amount of blood he actually had flow outside. The stabs looked awful, letting his muscle and even bones show. He was not looking good anywhere, not even on his old wounds that were all yellow and covered in pus. It was disgusting and sad, and that almost made me vomit.

But I didn't, and instead, surprised and worried after seeing the amount of blood on the sheet and body, went to the closet opposite to the bed and started looking for a bag of blood (a doctor has to be prepared for anything).

I looked through the bottles of medicine first, hoping to find a disinfectant that wouldn't sting too much. Then, with the tube of cream in my hand, went to the refrigerator that had all the blood samples I kept for my studies in case the ones in the lab couldn't be used. As I didn't know the type of blood the slave had, I chose a bag of O negative so he wouldn't have a bad reaction afterwards. With all the things I needed on my hands, I finally took a syringe and went back to the slave.

I left all the materials on the nightstand and prepared the bag of blood on a hanger by the wall. The slave's eyes kept following every movement, not completely focusing but making sure I wouldn't hurt him. Of course, when he saw the needle I'm sure I heard his heartbeats going faster. His breathing increased, his body started shaking and he looked like he was going into shock again.

  “Nan... Ah...” He mumbled, not being able to form any word in his state.

I left the syringe on the nightstand again, realizing my mistake, and raised my empty hands to show him I was not doing anything, at the same time trying to calm him down. I knew he wouldn't resist another attack.

  “Hey, it’s okay” I said, not sure of how to continue” It's not a drug, you lost too much blood and I have to give you more...

  “Hn... Wa...i” he tried again, but this time he seemed to understand what I was saying.

I awkwardly reached a hand out to his forehead and barely touched him with the tip of my fingers, checking for any sign of discomfort at first and finally using my palm to caress him softly, trying to show him I was telling the truth.

  “Please, it's dangerous if you keep panicking that way, I just want to help you.

The slave's body stopped shaking, and his breathing became even some seconds later while his head had relaxed on my touch.

  “I'm just trying to help you. “I repeated, just in case he was still not sure. I retreated my hand slowly, and he gave me a silent confirmation that he was when he opened his eyes again.

I grabbed the needle again, taking the time to show him that it was empty and that I would put it in his left arm.

He looked at it all the time, and as I disinfected a woundless spot on the back of his elbow, he chose to close his eyes and let me do what I had to.

It still hurt when I saw him wince when the needle went through his skin.

The system was connected fast, and blood had already started flowing to his body. Now, I had to patch him so it wouldn't go away, but there was a problem; that process would hurt as much as when they were made...

I had already gone through many options that would dull the pain even if it was for a while; giving him a sedative, a painkiller, maybe some more adrenaline so he wouldn't feel much, but they were all discarded by the risks. The kid could easily have another attack and because of the effects of the adrenaline previously injected plus the new medicine would stop his heart.

Maybe an ointment would do? But it would still hurt when applying it, and it only dulls the surface, not the inside. Controlled anesthesia? I would need too much for his whole body and could cause an overdose.

What to do... What to do so it won't hurt... What to do so the kid wouldn't suffer... What to do still keeping the promise I had made?

I was just about to rip my hair off my head when I heard the slave make some noises.

  “I... Nn...o” He croaked, his throat dry from all the screaming from before.

I didn't understand what he was saying, so I went closer to him and concentrated on his voice.

  “I... k-kno...w” I suddenly heard.

Thinking it was my imagination I repeated what I had gotten.

  “You know...?

The slave nodded slightly, almost just a tremble, but I caught what he meant.

  “I...it...wi...H-hu...r...t” he continued, and I did the same as before.

  “It will hurt? You know it will...” suddenly his words made something click in my mind, something that made a hole right through my heart. He was prepared to accept the pain I was going to give him. “Did someone... has someone...?” I started, imagining how he had to endure even the healing of his painful wounds. Just how much had he suffered already? “But I can find a way! There has to be something to...!

He didn't reply any of my sentences, just stared at me with his bluish-grey eyes while I kept confusing myself with more and more ideas.

He noticed that, and I don't know if he did it to help me, but he smiled.

He was maybe the most troubled boy in the whole world, and he smiled.

He was suffering from pure agony, and he had still smiled.

He had smiled...

  “T-tha...nk... Y-yo...u” he managed to say later, making the shock I was going through stay longer than expected.

He was ready to accept the suffering that was going to come from his healing, and he had thanked me for that.

I closed my fists with force, ready to fight against him when I realized how much decision you needed to say something like that in those conditions. He was leaving his future in my hands, and had already told me so.

I couldn't disappoint him, not now.

  “I promise...” I said, relaxing my hands and looking straight to his eyes, not flattering for any second. “I promise this will be the last painful think you'll have to endure. I'll take care of you after that...

He got the meaning of my words, and smiled again, this time closing his eyes and preparing himself.

I went to the closet again, this time searching for a scalpel so I could open his infected wounds and clean them properly. I carefully chose one that was sharp enough to make the cleanest cut I could without having to tear the same spot twice. Then, I rummaged in some boxes, finding a sharp and thin needle and a long piece of suture string. Having the items in my hands, I went back to the bed and looked at the slave's face again.

He had his eyes closed, but he didn't look relaxed at all. Instead, he looked like he was expecting to be hurt, prepared for a blow.

I gulped, and looked back and forth from the scalpel in my hands to the slave.

It would hurt him so much...

  “I'll start now, okay? “I said, putting a pair of latex gloves on.

The slave drew a sharp, deep breath, and I took it as a sign of confirmation.

So I started working.

I started opening the old wounds first, slowly and carefully touching his chest with the tip of the knife, making blood and pus flow from it. The slave's eyes shot open instantly, and a choked cry left his throat, but he didn't move a bit. My work was methodical, first cut, then clean with a piece of cloth and finally sew. I tried my best to take care of as much wounds as I could so the pain wouldn't stay for long, but once or twice, as I caught a glimpse of the again tear-stricken face of the slave, I could just think of how much he was actually suffering. It didn't matter if the pain lasted for a few minutes, because it must have felt as an eternity to him.

God, I wasn't supposed to hurt people this way, not even if it was meant to help them!

There were at least a dozens of ugly looking wounds in the slave's chest, the others just minor cuts that didn't need much attention, but I still pressed some disinfectant just in case. As I finally (finally) finished with that part and there was just one place left to take care of, I let the slave rest for some seconds as I examined the last wound on his chest. It was maybe the ugliest-looking one, and by the looks of it, it had been made with the decision of killing the boy, but it had missed his heart for some inches, and had just caused an intense pain instead. It was a deep knife stab right on top of his heart, and it had been one of the major sources of blood lost by its size. It didn't look infected, but it had to be closed fast.

I knew this one would hurt more than the ones before, so I took off one of the bloodied gloves, grabbed another piece of clean cloth, made it a ball and put it in front of the slave's mouth.

  “Bite on this, please” I told him. His lips quivered, and I knew he was trying to obey, but had not enough force to. The process must have left him exhausted.

With my clean hand, still holding the cloth, I put two of my fingers on his lips, slowly pushing so I could open his mouth with them. His jaw was so relaxed that I easily split his mouth open, carefully accommodating the piece of cloth between his teeth. Then I removed my fingers slowly, taking my time feeling the softness of his pink lips.

 “There we go” I whispered, putting my glove and taking the items again.

When the slave closed his eyes, I took the needle close to the wound. It had been made recently, meaning no infection showed and because of that, it only needed to be closed. But it needed many stiches, both on the inside and outside.

When the needle made the first hole through the boy's flesh, his back arched, not able to resist the pain that it must have caused. He bit on the cloth with force, and a trail of droll showed at one corner. But, after making the needle go across the wound, effectively closing it, the slave's body began losing the little amount of force he had left and it made it easier to direct the needle. When I finally finished closing the wound, I let out a sigh.

  “We are done with your front” I said taking off my gloves, glad that I had already finished with that place.

The slave didn't answer, and even though his eyes were open, it seemed like it took him a lot of effort to keep them that way. The adrenaline was finally starting to fade from his body.

He groaned, half asleep, but at this point I doubted he would be able to make any more coherent words.

I smiled at him, and made the same gesture as when I first started treating him. I put my hand on his forehead, brushing away the sweat that had formed there and taking away the dirty bangs that covered his eyes gently.

  “You had done well” I told him, as if I were talking to a child.

He relaxed at my touch again, and his eyes started closing against his own will. He fought his lids, but finally gave up when I closed them with my hand.

  “Sleep, you deserve it” I said, so he would surrender to exhaustion and stop feeling the immense pain reality was giving him. “You’ll be alright; I'll take care of you.

The slave's breathing finally evened and soft snores could be heard after a while. He had finally fallen asleep.

I smiled at him again, glad that he could finally rest and go through the healing process without feeling any pain.

His face had gained a bit more color, and the bag of blood was still half full. I just had to take care of the slave's back, the chain and rope marks at his wrists and ankles and the weir marks his neck had. But now he wouldn't feel anything, which was good.

I watched the calm features the boy had while he slept, and I found myself wanting to touch him more, caress him, tell him everything was fine. And so, I did something that I never thought I would.

I kissed his forehead, whispered our phrase again and went back to work.

You are already forgiven, Takao Kazunari...

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dammit I hate hurting Kazu-chan so much u.u!!  
> But don´t worry, doctor Midorima will help you overcome your fears my dear...


	7. Just keep going

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a longer chapter with both Himuro's and Kise's parts.
> 
> I really hope you like it! It's an introduction to the fluff that will come when they get more comfortable around the guys.
> 
> Enjoy the chapter!

** Himuro’s POV **

When I woke up I was so disoriented that couldn't open my eyes. I was lying in a soft and comfortable place; a bed, I realized, and quite an expensive one by the texture of the sheets.

I couldn't remember how I had gotten there. The only times I woke up in a similar way was because my masters fainted when they were ready with me, and just forgot to untie or kick me off the bed. That could only mean someone else had had their way with my body.

But the weird thing was that, even though there was dull pain and aching on some parts of my body, neither my legs or back felt sore, meaning no intercourse had happened while I slept or before that. That was almost impossible if my theory was correct. My mind still felt a bit out of place, and for that I just supposed I had been drugged with something that might or might not have stopped my ass from feeling beaten.

But even if those things made sense, why couldn't I remember anything?

I know I had been trying to reach the water bowl back on my cell, even if my wrists started bleeding. I had been so thirsty back then and, now that I remember, I'm still thirsty at the moment. I had been so close back then! Just some inches and I would have...

Wait, Tatsuya, prioritize. First I'll discover where I am, then I'll worry about water. You have already endured three days with your mouth dry, you can do this.

Ok, back to the beginning. My last clear memory; the cell and the plate of water. It's a bit fuzzy, but there was a faint scent of something sweet back then. A sweet flavor? No, it couldn't be, the last food I had eaten was dog food, and that was salty. What else? The door opening. Yes, I remember I feared they caught me disobeying my punishment, and I went back to my corner when I heard the creak of my door. But after that everything is a cloud of foggy thoughts; someone entering my cell, that someone hitting me? No, I just thought he would, instead he gave me... He gave me... That's where the sweet flavor comes from! Yes, it was like that.

It was a man, and he looked like... A giant? Was he tall? And purple. There was purple wherever I looked and...

Something suddenly touched my cheek, and my eyes shot open with fear. They didn't adjust immediately, and I could just make a blur of someone's face.

“I knew you were awake~” I heard a lazy voice say.

My cheek was poked again, and after blinking twice, I could finally see who it was.

He was purple...

“Are you still hungry?

“Wh-wha...

“Good! I'll bring you something to eat~

“W-wait!” I said, getting to a sitting position. But it was no use, the guy had already gone out of the room.

The only thing that seemed vaguely familiar and comforting, was that this guy was the same as the one before...And more importantly, had he really said eat?

He was... not lying, right?

As if... I then thought, mentally slapping myself for thinking someone would show any kind of mercy for me...

I took in my surroundings calmly, not really expecting something that would satisfy my hunger coming from a master for free.

I was currently lying on a bed in the middle of the place and there were three doors in the room; the one the giant guy went through, probably the bathroom door and finally a door to a balcony. The room was quite big, and on the wall in front of me there were plenty of shelves with many books and a closet. There were some sofas on my right, but apart from that there wasn't that much furniture nor decoration. It was a plain and normal room, and the only thing that stood out were some small things; the apron lying on one of the seats, the violet teddy bear in one of the shelves, some scattered books on the floor and the dirty plates and bags of chips lying everywhere.

God, just what kind of master I had gotten bought by? I thought. I was just about to get up and go explore the room some more when something caught my attention.

I felt myself gulping, and a sudden thirst dried my mouth upon seeing a glass full of water on the night table right next to me.

My hand moved on its own, reaching to the cold-and-fresh-looking water immediately, when suddenly something in my mind clicked and I stopped my hand midway.

This must have been done in purpose, there's no way he would let me... Or would he?

No, no. Tatsuya, stop it. This is just another test, there's no way they would leave me alone with a glass of water right next to me. They're waiting to watch me disobey, they're waiting for a reason to punish me...

But it is just so close! Maybe... Maybe if they don't realize I took a sip, maybe if I just submerge my tongue... Maybe if I just let my lips get wet...

My hand trembled, and slowly got closer to the glass. Inch by inch, the beating of my heart went faster, and it was the only thing I could hear at the moment.

I couldn't waste a chance like this... Who knew when another opportunity would arise?

It was just a sip... Just a sip...

The door suddenly creaked open, and I felt my heart stopping. I couldn't bring myself to move, and my hand just stood paralyzed millimeters away from the glass. It had been so close... I could feel the coldness if the water on the tip of my fingers...

I heard steps getting closer to me, and I drew a shaky breath, preparing myself for the punishment I would receive. The giant guy stopped right next to me, and I could just see his shoes from where I had adverted my gaze. He was going to hit me... He was going to hurt me... And he was going to leave me starving for the next week...

I suddenly felt something cold in my hand, and after some seconds of pure shock, I slowly looked up to my master.

He didn't look mad. He looked quite pleased, actually.

Why...?

I looked at my hand then, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw the glass of water touching my palm, being supported by the hugest hand I had ever seen.

The guy squeezed my hand, and firmly but carefully started pushing it towards my face. My eyes stood fixed on the scene, and I couldn't blink.

Just why was he...?

The side of the glass touched my lower lip, and it was slowly bent forward until the liquid made contact with my still closed lips.

“Drink it, it's yours” I heard master say, and didn't wait for confirmation.

I opened my mouth eagerly, letting all the liquid flow through my sore throat with ease. It just felt so good to have something cold and refreshing back in my body that I couldn't stop.

The glass was quickly emptied, and even when the guy attempted to take it away from my mouth I moved my head copying its motions, hoping some more water could fall from there.

But the moment I realized what I had done, I retreated as far as I could from the glass, breathing heavily because of the lack of oxygen caused by drinking nonstop.

“You still look thirsty...” master said, and I lowered my gaze in shame because of what I had done.

“I’m sorry, master” I apologized, hoping to get that matter forgotten.

“Why apologize? “Why, he asked? I was confused now, but instead of making my doubts clearer he changed the subject.” Nee~ I made something for you. Would you give it a try?

“I, w-what?

“Here!

I suddenly realized he had been carrying a plate when he put it on my legs. At first I didn't get what was going on, but as a delicious smell got on my nostrils, my shock was so big that I couldn't form any coherent thought.

The only thing that got out was; there is food in front of me.

The guy grabbed a spoon and filled it with rice. My eyes followed every movement with attention, and I didn't even realize the spoon was in front of my mouth until it was put inside.

I felt my eyes getting bigger when thoughts started forming again. The taste of the rice was just... Indescribable. It was amazing, different from everything I had eaten before.

“Is it good?” the giant asked, his voice so child-like that I could barely notice he was the same guy.

I still had to smile anyways. It was just too good!

“Yes, thank you, Master!” I said enthusiastically. Having my stomach with something to occupy on before it started eating myself alive really felt good...

“Yay~” he exclaimed, and filled the spoon again.

He repeated the process many times until the plate was empty and I was completely satisfied (it had not been a small plate). My stomach felt full, and I couldn't feel better.

But what surprised me the most was that he had not lied. He had indeed given me something to eat, and it was good...

“Uhm, excuse me...” I started, a bit nervous of having to be the one talking. The giant guy looked at me with surprise and made no attempt on stopping me, so I kept talking” Why... Why did you do that?

The giant guy stood still and in silence, and I had started to feel it had not been a good idea to ask. But then he put a hand on his chin, as if he was thinking of a reason, and made thinking noises.

“Why could it had been... Why did I do that... Why did I feed you, you mean?” I nodded” Hmm... I don't really know.

“What...?

“Maybe it was because I saw you were suffering, and because of something I always enjoyed doing... It was not right at all.

Huh? Did he just... say what I thought he did?

“But don't worry~” he added” you won't be hungry anymore, I'll take care of that!

Every place of my body told me he was lying, just like everyone else. But still, deep inside my heart, I wanted to believe him.

He had given me safety, after all.

_________________________

I opened my eyes with some effort, blinked once or twice and immediately pushed myself to an upright position when I didn't recognize the place I was in.

“Ugh...

My head started throbbing uncontrollably and I regretted moving too fast. I had to support it with both hands and wait for the dizziness to go away before I was actually able to take my surroundings.

I was lying in a really comfortable bed, and I had clothes some sizes too big for me on. I was confused at this; if I normally were to wake up on a bed, then I would be a) tied up, b) completely naked and c) hurting all over, but it wasn't like that this time, it looked as if someone had taken special care on making me feel comfortable.

That (I knew from past experiences) was not a good thing.

And then a memory came back to my mind. Someone had bought me.

“Fuck” I muttered, similar situations in the past flooding my head. This was really not good...

Whoever my new master was would probably know already... He has to know; everyone knew...

The sudden interruption of the sound of the door at my left being opened got me paralyzed, a cold sensation going all over my body and not letting me react.

The only thing I could think of was, Master is here.

I couldn't even close my eyes or pretend I was still asleep. I was not able to move a muscle, and my breathing just stopped.

“Oh, you're awake” I heard someone say.

I wasn't really focused on the source of the voice, and I could just deduce it had come from the man currently standing in the door frame with a basketball in his hands.

I kept watching for what seemed like hours, and couldn't believe what I was looking at. He had the same blue hair, the same tanned skin, the same mean-but-childish-looking eyes... He was just like the guy back at the slave house...

No, he was...

“...the pervert guy...” out of surprise I had said it out loud, I covered my mouth with both hands, realizing my mistake.

Shit, Ryouta, he was still someone who could know! How could you be so careless?! What if he did that? What if...?

To my surprise and stopping the rain of thoughts, the guy just chuckled.

He thought it had been... funny?

“Come on, are you still going to call me that?” he said, still smiling. “I was hoping for a change since I bought you.

He was not serious, I realized. He was not mad, that had been sarcasm... He was not going to hurt me.

I smiled too and tried to go further.

“Oh, please forgive my rudeness, master~ “I joked, and then smiled bigger when the guy started laughing.

“That’s a good one” he said after calming down.

He had, by that moment, moved next to the bed, and still hadn't done anything suspicious. But then he stretched his hand to me, stopping it midway between us and I looked at it with curiosity.

“Aomine Daiki” he said, and my eyes opened in surprise when I realized what he was doing. He was introducing himself to a slave in a formal way.

“W-wait, why are you...?” I started, not being able to understand everything by myself. Upon seeing the look of confusion in his face, I continued, hoping I wouldn't say anything wrong.” I'm a slave, you are not supposed to... Treat me as... An equal...

When I finished, I lowered my head in shame because I had made a mistake before too. I was not supposed to joke around my owners, it was not correct...

“Does it even matter?” he said, and I raised my head again in shock. He was smiling again.” Slave or not, we are both humans. There's no meaning on treating you like an animal just because” He straightened his hand, and kept it at the same spot as before. “It’s just a handshake anyways, and if you want it the other way, would you deny something to your new master?

I kept staring in shock. Had he really said everything I had heard? Was he really ok on treating me as a friend?

I hesitantly raised my hand, and slowly took it next to the guy's. I barely touched him, but when I did so, he firmly grabbed mine and gave it a squeeze.

I couldn't resist the smile forming on my face and barely could hold back a tear that was threatening to fall.

He was different...

“Kise Ryouta. It's nice to meet you, A-Aomine-sama...” I said softly, earning another satisfied smile from him.

“Nice to meet you too, Kise. And please, just call me Aomine, you are not my servant.

“Y-yes, uh, Aomine-san?” I tried again. “Sorry, I'm not used to just ignore honorifics.

“It’s fine, don't worry about that.

He let go of my hand and went to a seat next to a big window that covered half or the wall and lead to a balcony. He left the basketball there, and then turned back to me.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

I wasn't expecting something like that, and I hadn't actually thought about it in the meantime. I was just about to answer, when my stomach suddenly growled in protest at the thought of food. I covered it with both hands and felt myself blushing of embarrassment.

“It seems you are” said Aomine-san not able to hide his silent laughter.

“Yes, I am” I finally said, defeated by my own body.

“I brought something to eat some minutes ago to the kitchen, I hope you'll like it” he said, walking to the door.

I nodded, intrigued by what kind of thing Aomine-san had prepared. He actually didn't seem like the type of guy who would cook by himself, but maybe (and hopefully) I was wrong.

I untangled myself from the pile of blankets on top of me and sat at the side of the bed, still aware of how my head had hurt when I got up before. Then, I slowly let my bare feet touch the floor, gradually pushing myself off the bed and letting my legs support me.

But, as my arms lost the grip on the bed and I was standing up next to it, my head started spinning, and I felt myself floating. The throbbing started again, and I'm sure I heard Aomine-san calling for me at some moment. But I couldn't focus on anything, and when I tried to grab the bed to steady myself my knees just gave up my weight, and my body went forward and on to the floor with a loud thump.

My head didn't hit the floor, something had grabbed it before it did so, but the fall had my surroundings spinning around me. Nothing made sense, and the pain was so great that I closed my eyes shut and grabbed my head with both hands again. There was a loud and high-pitched noise splitting my mind in two, and I couldn't stop it by any means. I felt sick, like I was going to throw up, but nothing came up my throat. Something was grabbing me, and apart from the piercing sound, there was something else that started making its way through my ears.

..se?

...Ki...s

Kise...!

“Kise! Can you hear me?

“A-Aomine...san?” I said when I regained enough force to talk.

God, it still hurt so much...

“Kise, you are shaking, what happened?” I heard Aomine say again with great concern. Was he... worried about me?

“I... Agh!” I started, but a new wave of pain sent shivers through my spine.

I felt the grip around me tightening, and I realized it had been Aomine-san the one doing it.

The pain subdued temporary, and after going through this situation countless times before, I already knew what was going on.

“S-shipping... Drugs...” I managed to whisper between breaths.

“What? Did they give you...?

He didn't need to finish his sentence, and I nodded, not being able to form any words. It had not been a good idea, I thought when my head started spinning again.

I felt myself being lifted, still with my eyes closed, and being laid down back on the bed carefully. The covers were once again on top of me and a pillow was accommodated behind my back. Then, after a few seconds, something cold was put on my lips and, confused by the lack of senses and the sudden feeling, I backed up against the pillow, trying to get away from the alien object.

But I felt something on the back of my head, keeping me in place and the object went back to my mouth.

“Drink” I heard Aomine-san say, and his voice gave me enough encouragement to obey.

I parted my lips slightly, and felt the water run through my dry mouth and throat. It felt good, and after some seconds I was desperately drinking, suddenly aware of how thirsty I was.

The coldness of the water and the distraction of my thirst made the throbbing on my head gradually disappear, until just a dull feeling was left.

I was able to open my eyes again, and I was surprised when I saw Aomine-san in front of me, with the same look of concern that the one back at the slave house.

“Better?” he asked, letting a visibly relieved sigh when I made an affirmative noise” Shit, you almost kill me! What the hell did they give you?

“T-they are... d-drugs that make you unaware of... of the last minutes of consciousness before you fall asleep” I croaked out. “They do that so we won't, uh, learn the path to the place we are being taken to and escape.

Aomine-san was confused, and he didn't react for some seconds.

“And they think that is possible? I mean, that you can escape just by knowing the path? “he finally said.

I knew he hadn't mean to sound like that, and just had to smile at his incredulity.

“At least I'm positive my memory is not that bad” I joked.

He seemed to realize his mistake, but instead of apologizing properly, he kept bugging me.

“Says the one who forgot where he and who I was” he said smiling sarcastically.

“That was because of the drug!” I defended myself, but suddenly felt myself blushing at how aggressive that had sounded.

“Ha-ha! You are blushing!

“I’m not! I just... Ah” a wave of pain interrupted me again. I was too excited, I needed to calm down...

“Hey, are you ok? Do you need something?” said Aomine-san, who was suddenly worried and in front of me again.

“No, it will go away alone, but thanks.

Had it been always so nice to have someone worried over you?

“I’ll bring the food here, you are still hungry, right?” Aomine-san asked. Without needing an answer, he went to the door again. “Just wait for a while and don't move.

“Ok...” I answered right before he went out.

He didn't make me wait too much, actually, and after some minutes of hearing the rustle of plates and kitchen stuff, Aomine-san entered to the room with a tray in his hands carrying two plates of food.

“It’s not that much...” he said when he went in and started getting closer to me.” ...but I really suck at cooking and this is kind of my daily lunch. I hope you are not disappointed...

I still couldn't see what he was talking about, but I could smell it, and it actually smelled delicious and... familiar in some way.

He got next to me, and my surprise when I saw the food he was talking about was indescribable.

“I know; I know... It's a bit lame. I can make something else if you like” he said in response to my lack of words and the oblivious face I should have put.

“P-Pizza?” I managed to say.

Aomine sighed and looked quite ashamed of what he had in his hands.

“Yeah, maybe I should make something else...

“Are you serious?!” I said, my emotions winning over the common sense. I just couldn't be happier!” I haven't had pizza in, like, four years! God, it's my favorite food of all times!

“Really?” Aomine-san was surprised by my sudden statement, but recovered from it really fast and put the tray on my legs” Then that's good! You can have as much pizza as you want now.

I was speechless, and didn't have any words left. God, I was so astonished right now that I could barely move. Aomine-san noticed, and pushed the plate with a slice of pizza on it close to my face.

“Eat it before it runs away” he said mockingly, and I couldn't resist the urge anymore.

I grabbed the slice with both hands and, in painfully slow motions, moved it to my mouth.

Upon biting the first piece and letting the oh-so-familiar flavor flood my mouth, a lonely tear fell off my eye.

“Thank you” I whispered.

Aomine-san smiled at me.

“You are welcome” he answered and grabbed a slice too.

We both ate in silence after that, and after I finished I finally let my shoulders relax.

He didn't seem to know after all...


	8. Assistance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally back!  
> Thank you for all the people who had faith in me and left all those comments in the last chapter, you really inspired me to write this one.  
> After all this time, I got to remember most of the things I wanted to do, but there are still some gaps that I'll have to correct.  
> Well, I'll leave you with the story now, you have waited too long for this moment!  
> (Sorry for the grammar and spelling, mistakes. I was too excited to check once more!)  
> Thank you for all your support!

** Furihata’s POV **

****

I woke up to the sudden realization that I had been bought. My eyes were not open yet, trying my best to focus on my other senses to look for a way out without giving away the fact that I was awake. It was the first time I had been bought after they transferred me to the Kirisaki Daichi slave house, and I didn't know how the buyers treated their slaves once they were bought. I had to be careful around this one, and a way more if he had accepted my threats of killing him with such a calm expression back then.

My head throbbed painfully at the memory, but I kept my eyes closed and suppressed a whimper that threatened to escape my mouth. Shit, I mentally cursed. They had still managed to give me some of the shipping drugs after all the thrashing I had done.

Whatever, I needed to find a way out first.

I stayed quiet for a long while, measuring my breaths carefully, so I would still seem asleep. I didn't hear anything for a long while, and assumed there was no one else in the room with me. I could just hear the occasional rustle of leaves moving with the wind and feel a breeze caressing my face whenever I heard it.

That meant there was an open window nearby.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and looked around.

The room was really big. I had assumed it would be the size of my cell back in the slave house, but the more I stared around, the more I realized that this was the main room of the place where my new master lived.

The walls were pristine white, giving the room a warm atmosphere, bathed with the rays of sunlight coming from the window to my left. All of the furniture was red, just like his eyes and hair. There wasn't much, just the bed, some shelves full of books, a sofa facing the window and, to my dismay, a wooden desk in front of the bed with textbooks and papers that looked recently used.

It was his room.

I immediately pushed the sheets off of me, driven automatically by the adrenaline flooding my veins. My feet touched the wooden floor swiftly, not making any sound. I sat on the bed, looking around for a way out. There were two doors to my right and an open window on my left that lead to what looked like a forest.

I could almost see a bright, fluorescent exit sign on top of it.

I tried to make a run for it, but as soon as I lost the grip on the bed, my body balanced forward by the sudden movement, making me lose my balance and fall face down to the floor.

“Ugh...” I grunted, massaging my nose with my fingers. Now my jaw wasn't the only part in my face that hurt. Fucking drugs! I couldn't even put my arms in front of myself to soften the fall!

I took in a sharp breath in fear. I had made too much noise!

My arms moved on their own, pushing my body off the floor before I had the chance to realize my mistake, and fell back again.

I looked at my hands with wide eyes. They were shaking really bad, there was no way they would support my weight like that!

I punched the floor in frustration and gazed at the window longingly. Maybe if I tried to crawl...

Just as I was about to start doing that, something moved in my field of vision. I looked at the source and gasped. The redhead had been sitting in the sofa, and he was now looking at me with curiosity.

He smirked at my shocked face.

He looked much more menacing now than at the slave house. He wasn't tall or seemed to have a strong build, but his eyes were enough to make me shiver. Crimson and gold looking at me intensely, not flattering for any second.

Those were eyes that knew nothing more than success.

When he spoke, his eyes seemed to dance along the venom in his voice.

“Good luck at killing me in that state, boy.

I felt myself blushing slightly, and my eyes narrowed at the comment. He was making fun of me!

Gathering all the courage I had left after the embarrassing outcome of events, I spoke.

“Seems like you still needed some extra precautions to protect yourself after all” I spat angrily.

He chuckled low and dark, like he was amused at my statement, and got up from his seat.

“It just doesn't look like you are in a position to talk, are you?” he asked, walking to me with slow but precise steps. I gulped when he crouched in front of me” You shouldn't forget your place here, Furihata Kouki. You should already know that fairness does not apply to this instance. You have been bought by me, your master, and even though I permitted one or two threats to my person I will not allow you to walk away easily from them.

Gritting my teeth, I tried to head-butt him with the little force I had left, but he seemed to read my thoughts beforehand and grabbed my hair in an iron grip, forcing me to face upwards.

“I did not give you anything to make you subdue this easily” he said, keeping eye contact with me” Whereas I expect nothing more than cooperation, being in a state this useless will not be advantaging for anything.

He let go of my hair and I hit the floor with a loud thud. I whimpered in pain again.

“Let this serve as a punishment for your actions” he said standing up and leaving me there, on the floor.” I must go now, and I expect you to be repented of your actions by the time I come back.

He went to the sofa again, grabbed the book he had been reading and put it on a leather bag.

“Dinner is served at nine, and you must be present at the table fifteen minutes before that. You must be showered and properly dressed by then.

Huh?

“The clothes you should wear are in the bathroom, as well as your hygiene implements.

He marched to the door to the right of the bed, disappearing of my field of vision.

I heard the door open, but before it closed again, the guy spoke again.

“I also expect the bed to be clean before I come back. Until then, you might do as you please.

And then he left as fast as he had appeared, leaving me dumbfounded and lying on the floor with no idea of what had happened.

He had just let me free to roam around?

“Goddamit I don't get him!” I exclaimed, too frustrated to keep my thoughts to myself.

But there was nothing I could do at the moment. My limbs felt like jelly and I couldn't get up from my position. I could feel the blood rushing to them again, but I knew it would take some time until I could move again.

A breeze passed near me and I almost cried of happiness. He had left the window open!

I tried crawling for the window, but just managed to move a few inches until I collapsed again into the cold floor. A shiver ran through my spine at the coldness of the room. I hadn't realized my clothes only consisted of a white shirt and a pair of light blue pajama pants. I wouldn't get far with those if I escaped.

My memory suddenly recalled what my master had said before he left. There were clothes for me in the bathroom!

I tried pushing my body up again, this time succeeding and managing to put myself into a sitting position. I heaved at the effort, but that only meant the drugs were already starting to fade.

Standing up again took me at least thirty minutes and countless failures, but when I took the first steps towards the bathroom door I didn't stop.

Breathing heavily and with my legs shaking, I supported myself by the doorknob until I got enough strength to turn it and get inside.

The promised clothes were on the counter of the small room. I made my way to the toilet and sat there for a while, waiting for my breath to normalize. When it did, I splashed some water on my face to wipe away the dizziness remaining from the drug and dried it with a soft towel afterwards. I looked at my reflection in the mirror, and realized the time I spend in captivity had not gone unnoticed by my features. My cheeks were almost hollow, and I had black circles under my eyes. There were two dark spots at each side of my jaw where the guy had grabbed me the day before.

I sighed, and casted my gaze somewhere else than my ugly face. It has been like this for a long time, I should be used to it already.

I took the clothes and started dressing myself up. As much as I wanted to take a nice warm bath, I needed to hurry and escape before my only source of light disappeared.

The clothes consisted of a pair of soft cotton trousers, much like the ones I was wearing before but black, another white shirt, socks and leather shoes. Upon seeing the brand of the shoes, I felt my legs becoming jelly again. This were really expensive clothes! Why couldn't he give me a normal wardrobe and not this designer-like clothes?

Well, I can sell them for a good amount of money once I leave this place, I thought, going back to the main room with ease. The drug was finally gone.

I made my way to the window, resisting the urge to take anything that looked expensive and fancy that could be easily tracked.

My heart almost jumped out of my chest when I looked outside. The room was in a second floor, and there was a tree right next to the window, one of its branches facing the room. I would be easy to jump from the window to it, and even if I failed, the fall was not a big one.

I took a final look at the room behind me, like expecting the red haired guy pecking from the door he had left from. But there was no one there.

I smiled widely and climbed to the window. I balanced myself out of the room and grabbed the branch with both hands. Letting go of the window, I crossed my legs to the base of the tree and pushed myself up. I used the small branches under me as a ladder and slowly went down.

When my feet touched the grass, I let out a sigh of relief and bolted deep into the forest, not caring about anything else than the freedom I had finally earned.

 

** Kagami’s POV **

****

As I stood in front of the closed door of Midorima's room, I had to remind me once again why I was doing this. This was for the kid currently sleeping on my bed with the worst fever I've ever seen, nothing else.

It had all started this morning when I realized I had not been sleeping on my usual place, but on the floor next to it. My body hurt from the awkward position, and it took me a while to finally recall why that had happened.

The moaning coming from my bed helped me quite a lot.

I stood up immediately, worried about the blue haired boy. He had been fine the night before, but who could tell when he would get worse after all the suffering he had went through?

The kid was limp against the pillows, half of his head tucked under the sheets. His eyes were closed, and his breathing kept sounding worse and worse. Too short, too fast, too loud. He had started shaking again, but not from the cold this time, but from the dangerous heat radiating from his body.

“Hey, kid! Wake up!” I had said, shaking him a little by his shoulders. I frowned at the lack of response.

His entire body was stiff with tension for some reason.

I felt my face fell when I realized why.

He'd been crying. His face was still wet with tears. He whimpered in his sleep, fighting the shadows bothering his mind and not letting him rest from his torture, even when he was asleep.

His cheeks were flushed dark red now, not even close to the pale tone that they'd been last night. I moved my hand to his forehead hesitantly, not really sure if I wanted to have the real idea of how much pain he was going through. I felt a pang in my heart at how hot his skin was.

I didn't even bother to put more decent clothes when I ran out of my room to Midorima's with just my boxers. But now here I was, knocking his door desperately and receiving no response from the other side.

“Midorima please! I know you are there!” I said, stopping the banging for a second.” There's something I need to do and I... I...” This was for the kid, just to help the kid. There was no other intention but try and get the kid to feel better. After all, Midorima was the only doctor around” I need your help!

After two agonizingly long minutes, I heard steps coming and the door opened.

“How bad is he?” he asked instantly. It surprised me that he was already dressed and with his leather bag on his hand. I never thought he was a morning person.

“Bad. I don't know what they did to him before I got there, but the punishment he was receiving was awful enough to have him burning up this morning. He wasn't even completely conscious yesterday either.

Midorima hmphed.

Just when I was about to open my mouth again, Midorima pushed past me and started walking to my room.

I turned and started following close behind, not even stopping to wonder why he knew what I needed. The fortune freak scared me sometimes.

“Was he in the torture wards?” he suddenly asked.

There was a place in that prison labeled as "torture ward"?

“Uh, no.” I said, trying to remember the name of the kid's area. “Hanamiya said it was called public ward or something.

Midorima stopped out of nowhere and I crashed onto his back, falling to the floor because of the sudden action.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” I exclaimed, rubbing my back with my hand.

He turned to look at me so fast that I thought he would fall on top of me. When I saw the amount of anger in his face I wanted to get even lower than I was. Had I said something wrong?

“You bought someone from the F ward?!” he shouted at me.

“Yeah, what about it?

Ups, wrong answer.

“Are you insane?!

Midorima's face became red with fury, making him look like an over angered tomato. Lips turning pale as they made a straight line. His fists were clenched hard, knuckles white. He even looked like he would hit me with his leather bag at any moment.

But when I thought he would almost explode, his body relaxed.

“I'm not going to treat someone like that. Excuse me.” he said, and started retreating back to his room as fast as he had come. We hadn't even gotten to the middle of the hall!

“Wait!” I exclaimed, standing up with a jump and grabbing him by his clothes.” Please you can't leave him!

Midorima stopped for a second.

“Do you even understand what you did by buying that?

Upon hearing the word Midorima used for the kid, I felt my blood boil. My jaw clenched by instinct, my mind wanting to throw as many insults and hits as I could and to turn his face into soup.

“That? That?!” I exclaimed, as mad as I was back at the slave house. I was so angry! How could he treat him like an object just because of where he came from?! He was just a fucking child!

Upon seeing the look on disgust on Midorima´s face, I let my fists relax a little bit.

My anger faded a little bit, frozen away. Slowly, I took a deep breath, then another, calming myself. No hatred, no anger, nothing of whatever caused me to almost let the kid die because I was too stupid and careless to hurt the only one who could save him. You shouldn’t get enemies that could have helped you instead, Taiga.

I let go of Midorima’s shirt, but kept looking at him with a firm gaze.

“Please, come with me.” I pleaded. –He needs you.

“No.” was his stern answer.

“Come on Midorima! You only need to see how he’s doing and tell me what I should do to take care of him! He’s not even awake, he shouldn’t be a problem!

I saw a hint of a doubt in his green eyes, but he pushed it away by shaking his head in a negative sign.

“Just come and see him” I said, unable to give up. – You are the only one who could help him. He needs you.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he sighed lightly and nodded. He slung his bag over his shoulder and turned his back to me.

“Ok then” he said. –But I’m not going to involve too much; he, and whatever he could do to me is your responsibility!

“Fine.

We scurried into my room, the twinkling lights outside my window shining through as the coldness of my room beat against our bodies. I hadn’t realized how chilly it was when I ran to Midorima’s. He was immediately distraught as he came into it. Had to be wondering how I could live in such barbaric conditions, considering the amount of dirty plates in the kitchen, the clothes lying around everywhere… But he didn’t mention anything, and just walked past the mess to my room.

Upon entering and landing his gaze on the kid trembling under the sheets, he rushed to his side, seeming to forget what he had said in the hallway some seconds ago.

“My god…” he muttered under his breath when he pushed the mountain of blankets covering the boy away.

The kid was still shaking terribly, his muscles contracting with every spasm he had. Because of the coldness of the room, his hot breath made clouds over his face every time he let it out, which was a lot faster than I remembered.

Midorima reached out to touch the child’s forehead with his palm, and took it away almost immediately.

“We have to get him to regain consciousness. – he said, grabbing the kid by his shoulders and shaking him slightly. –Go get a wet towel.

I nodded and bolted to the bathroom to get what he asked. When I came back, I put the cloth on top of the kid’s forehead.

He wasn’t waking up, so I started slapping his face lightly.

His eyelashes finally stirred. Slowly, the kid opened his eyes.

“Hey…” I whispered, glad that he was awake.

He looked around the room, looked at me, but not being able to see anything. His eyes were clouded because of the fever, and I suspected he had a terrible headache by the trembling of his pupils.

Only when he landed his gaze on the green headed doctor, he took stock of his predicament.

He shuddered as the memory of his imprisonment trickled to his mind. He closed his eyes, breathing fast under the fever. He tried to lift himself of the source of comfort that was the bed, but only managed to wince at his non-healed injuries. His chest heaved for breath, and his blue eyes were wide and astonished, afraid.

“Wait, calm down! “I exclaimed, taking hold of his shoulders again. When he realized my own body was looming over him, he shrank into himself, getting all his limbs close to his body for protection.

“N-no! Ple…a…

“Kagami! You are frightening him!

“I know that already! “I responded anxiously.

But what was I supposed to do?!

He didn’t remember me. He didn’t know what was going on.

Teal eyed every inch I moved.

Silent tears fell off his face as he fought his labored breath. I could see the terror and pain in his eyes and felt it reach out to me and wrap itself around my heart.

“Please, please don’t die. Please, please...” I prayed, and inched forward to caress his face.

The kid whimpered in terror, and I backed my hand away.

“I’m not going to hurt you. Please let me help you, kid. Just let me help you. No one saved you before, but I can do that for you now. “I whispered, carefully moving my hand forward again.

This time the child only eyed my hand.

I slipped it under the kid’s head, then moved it slowly to his check to wipe away the tears. The kid trembled and shivered, but I could feel him relaxing under my touch. He was still hot as hell though.

I smiled slightly, looking back at his clear blue eyes. He did the same with mine, and I could sense a hint of recognition under all the feverish fog.

“Ehem.” Suddenly Midorima’s voice made us both jump. The kid’s breath hitched again and he backed up, coming closer to my hand.

“Shh, it’s okay” I murmured, assuring him that he was fine. “He’s not going to hurt you either. I called him so he could help you too, you are very sick. Now we have to let him work on your injuries and see what is giving you this awful fever.” The child’s eyes widened slightly, seeming surprised by the statement. I felt his shaky hand creeping up under the covers and grabbing my wrist. I had to smile again at the sight. “I’ll be right next to you; I won’t let him hurt you.”

The kid hesitantly nodded after some seconds and rested his limp head in the pillows again, obviously tired by all the action and knowing he didn't have much more of a chance to say "no". It made me sad that he had to think that way, because even if he did deny the treatment, we would have had to force him to accept it. I wouldn't let him die.

I nodded to Midorima, who had already put on his latex gloves and taken out all his equipment while I was calming the kid down.

He worked fast; connecting tubes, hooking up monitors, measuring blood pressure… Out of nowhere, my room had turned into an improvised hospital.

He first connected an oxygen mask to his face and IV’s in his arms, and I noticed how Midorima wrinkled his nose at the amount of red dots below his elbows that only meant an unmeasured and brutal use of drugs. The kid also winced at the sting of the needle, but stayed still for the rest of the treatment, too gone by the haze to care.

I lied down on my bed next to the kid, letting him hold my hand while the green head did all the work he needed to do. His grip on me tightened every time he felt pain, but relaxed quite easily because of how exhausted he was. The fever and the nightmares were leaving him spent.

Midorima disinfected the kids welts and cuts on the kid’s back and removed the pus out of the infected ones, being really careful to not cause much pain. He almost seemed used to that amount of cuts by the precision of his movements.

He stopped for a while to look at his work.

“How did he…?

“Wips, knives, chains... “I answered before he could finish the question. I was only met with a cold silence as a reaction.

Once he was done with his back, he moved to the multiple lacerations and burns on the kid’s limbs and neck. As I suspected, they were made by the irresponsible and sadistic use of chains, cuffs and ropes over such sensitive skin, and also by the lack of care they put into the poor child. Midorima put bandages over them and gave me a vast talk on how to apply ointments to the wounds every day until they got better.

By the time he had finished, the child was already out of it completely. His hand did no longer apply any pressure on mine, and his eyes were half open but again, not able to see anything. His breathing had started to slow down and I could feel the temperature descend from where I was resting. I was so happy that I would have hugged Midorima that same instant.

He arranged his equipment carefully, leaving two tubes of ointments on the bedside and a bag of whatever he had given the kid trough the IV. I then lifted myself from my position. Slowly and carefully, I didn't want to wake the kid up again. Once he was done, Midorima put the covers on top of the child's frail body and beckoned for me to follow him to the living room.

We both sat in a spot that was clean enough so we could talk. I really needed to clean the room, it was a complete mess.

We looked at each other for a long while. Nobody wanted to talk, just watching the session got me on my nerves. But the kid was alright now, I didn't need to worry about it.

The green head didn't seem to get over it yet.

“Now you’re going to tell me this kid was in the F wards?” Midorima said through clenched teeth.

“I was the same as you when I saw him.” I told him, fidgeting with my hands. “They were trying to drown him when I bought him, with freezing water! You should have seen the other two that were on that ward, they looked like they could eat your head in an instant!

“But how is it possible?” He asked. Yup, he was just like me, angry as fuck at the bastards who put them there. “What did he do to be put in the F wards?

“I don't know. I haven't received his papers yet. They should bring them in today” I told him. “I don't even know his name yet.

Midorima nodded slowly, trying to process the information I gave him.

“So you could be living with a serial murderer and don't even know that.

“Yes.” I stated, for which Midorima widened his eyes. “But you saw him, and there's no way he looked like an assassin, or did he?

He shook his head, unable to form words.

“He is still dangerous. You shouldn't let your guard down. You can always change him for other slaves at the lower wards, the F's have that breach in their contracts.

“I won't” I said” I already promised I wouldn't let his suffer anymore.

This time, Midorima's eyes widened a fraction in surprise. Then he looked at my eyes directly.

“It had to be expected from you.

I felt a kind of warmth on my chest, that meant he had accepted the kid.

Wait what the fuck? Why did this seem so similar to a father meeting a girlfriend for the first time? Why did Midorima have that kind of aura around him? I would expect this feeling from Akashi, since he's the uncalled leader of the group, but not this guy!

“How's yours by the way?” I said, trying to take the conversation somewhere else.

It was not a wise way to do it, I realized when his and head eyes dropped to his hands.

“He... He was from the torture ward.” He started. I noticed his voice trembled, and he fought to get the words out. It wasn't a nice thing to remember.

Midorima sighed, giving up.

“Remember the bloodied sheet?” he asked, given the lack of words to describe it.

Oh. It wasn't a pretty experience after all.

I nodded.

“You should have seen it. You wouldn't believe me if I described it to you. It was... awful and gruesome and... God” Midorima put his hand over his eyes and grabbed his temple, notoriously bothered by the memory.

I gulped. That sheet had been bleeding really bad. Midorima was right, not even the worse I could imagine compared to what should have happened.

“He was in the middle of his execution...

“You saved him from death?!” I exclaimed, unable to keep my voice low.

Midorima nodded, still looking down.

“It was unfair!” I heard him mutter under his breath. He then looked at me again and spoke more clearly.” He was being punished in a way he didn't deserve! I wouldn't even dare to give that suffering to an F, and his crime didn't call for a C either! And to think your kid was in such a dangerous place as the public wards...

“I don't know what he did” I said” But whatever it is, I can't let him stay in that place. He's so young! He deserves a normal life like everyone!

“I'm not sure if I share your conviction of his innocence” Midorima stated, standing up from his seat.” But I agree with you that he's too young to be dragged into that world. Please excuse me, I have to go back and check on him. He was really... fragile when I treated him.

I nodded standing up too and leading him to the door.

“Make sure to get the temperature a little higher, the cold is not good on fevers. Oh, and get him to eat something, he is badly underweight.” Midorima said, and left for his room.

I closed the door behind him and rested my hands on the knob for a while.

I sighed. We both had a long way to go.

I just hoped I could be of some use to help Midorima as he helped me. There was no way I could go through this without assist, I realized.

I needed to tell the others too, or this was going to escape from my hands easily.

I went to the thermostat and put the temperature some degrees higher, not to make the room a sauna but enough for the sake of the kid. I found my pants lying on top of the sofa and put them on, reaching for my phone in my pocket.

I looked through the contact list until I found the name I needed. I pressed it after hesitating for some seconds. I needed to call this person.

The phone ringed a few times until he finally picked up.

“Uh, hey. It's Kagami” I said, taking a deep breath.” We need to talk, Akashi.


	9. Companions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tooth rooting fluff, you've been warned... :D  
> Thank you for reading!

** Midorima’s Pov **

****

I had always imagined myself spending my time studying. Regardless whether it was medicine or other common subjects. Maybe reading too, or playing shogi with Akashi for hours on end to fill my day. But I had never imagined myself to be sitting at the side of a raven haired slave’s bed, holding a piece of wet cloth against the pale man’s forehead, making sure that the young boy was as comfortable as possible. Taking care of someone else, maybe, but certainly not someone I expected to slice my throat while I slept.

 _Life sure has weird turns,_ I though sarcastically.

I looked down at the bedridden kid, observing him. The boy, Takao Kazunari, was suffering from a case of high fever. Not a high as to be a danger for his health, but summed up with the amount of pain the kid had to go through during the past who knows how many years, I didn’t even think twice when I heard his labored breathing from the doorstep. He looked really pale and his face looked pained. His eyes were shut closed and he was terribly thin.

He looked vulnerable, like a little china doll.

Even if it was hard to admit it, I wished for his beautiful greyish-blue eyes to open again.

Takao murmured something in his sleep, and I perked my ear up at the sudden sound. He was being plagued by nightmares even in his deep slumber. I sighed. Did his past never leave him alone? Not even when he could finally rest from real life?

 

** Takao’s Pov **

****

_“P-p-please, Father. Please stop!”_

_The brown haired man who was above my small, quivering body raised an eyebrow._

_“Now, now, Kazunari.” I shivered at the tone of his deep voice. “You made me have to do this.”_

_He reached down to stroke my cheek, and I tried my best to move away from the touch, knowing what would happen next. My body did not obey my own orders, and right after I forced my eyes shut, I felt the mocking gesture of showing that he cared for me._

_He never did, I was just his toy. In truth, he did not give a damn about me. I was just there to carry out his orders and to entertain him, just like mom. It just so happened that I was his favorite toy, seeing that I was the most obedient between the two of us. She knew that, and used it to escape and leave me alone with him._

_He patted my head, and I opened my eyes slowly to look at him. Maybe dad is just showing how much he cares for me…_

_“Relax.”_

**_No… No! Don’t let it get to you, Kazunari!_ **

_“Get away from me!” I screamed, slapping his hand away from my face._

_Just after I did it, I wanted to disappear. I had hit him. I had hit him._

_I choked as I felt the hand back, this time on my neck, squeezing tight. My body got turned around and my face sank into the bed sheets. I held back my voice, not wanting him to sense my pain or fear, since that would just encourage him to hurt me more. I always listened to what father said. I always did what I was told. But I did not like this one bit._

_I grew to fear every time he asked me for my presence and shivered like there was an earthquake inside me. There was never an instance where he would just let me go without a new scar on my body. At first it was just once every few days, when mom was still around to calm him down. But after she disappeared, I was made go through torture every single night._

_It was nightmare after nightmare. For a normal kid, school was like a prison. For me, it was the only eight hours of the day I was safe._

_The pressure on my neck got me back to the instance where I was being hurt. Father mumbled some sentences that I couldn’t get, too engrossed in the voices inside my head telling me to run away. He had asked something that I couldn’t respond, and he slapped me at my lack of attention._

_“Come on, son!” he shouted at me, tightening his grip on my neck. “I’m just trying to have some quality time with you and you’re ruining it!”_

_I whimpered in fear, unable to form words._

_Father grunted and let go of my neck. I didn’t have enough time to get away from the bed to be pushed back down again by my shoulders._

_“F-father! I beg you… please, stop this!” I begged._

_He chuckled, and I let my head fall to the hard pillows on defeat. There was nothing else I could do._

_I bit my lower lip to prepare myself for the pain that was sure to come. When it did, I had to bite back my scream, drawing blood from the flesh I was using to lighten the blow._

_I was gone for some minutes, unaware of what had happened. I thanked my troubled mind for letting me out of that memory by making me fall unconscious._

_I slowly pushed myself off the bed, both of my arms shaking and looked around the room dazedly. I didn’t even need to look down at the bed sheets to know that they were smeared with my own blood. I had to clean them before tomorrow…_

_Father had already gotten up and was dressing himself._

_“Leave, I do not want to see you anymore.” He said smoothly, as though the event that had taken place moments ago did not happen._

_I quickly slid off the bed, my eyes downcast, full of pain and humiliation. I was used to be spoken to this way. I felt like what father always called me – trash. He had taken advantage of me and used me, and now that he was satisfied, he no longer needed me. Part of me knew that father merely saw me as the obedient son that carried out his every order and served as a sex toy, but many of the others still wanted to believe. Where had those good times gone? Where was the happy face greeting me every morning before school?_

_I shook my head. Gone. They are gone._

**_Get a grip on reality, Takao Kazunari._ **

_I walked towards my pile of clothes but stopped abruptly as pain jolted up my spine. I cried out and proceeded. New tears springing into my eyes, I grabbed my clothes and quickly dressed. I did not want to be around when father suddenly decides to have another round. When I was done dressing, I walked out of the room as quickly as I could, not looking back to see the lustful eyes that I felt on my body._

_I step one feet outside the door when I feel a shiver running down my back._

_“Look at me” I hear my father say. I get paralyzed. The voices speak freely inside my mind._

**_Don’t do it._ **

**_But you have to!_ **

_I gulp. Who should I trust?_

**_No, it’s not safe._ **

**_He told you to!_ **

_“LOOK AT ME!!!”_

_Ignoring the warnings coming from my mind, I slowly turned back to the room._

_Just by having a glimpse inside, I see red._

**_Don’t look back!_ **

_“But it’s too late” I say, just as I take the full picture._

_He’s on his knees on the ground, his body covered in holes that go through. There’s blood flowing from them like waterfalls onto the floor._

_“Look what you did to me, my love.”_

_I gasp and try to look away. I didn’t do this!_

_“Yes you did.”_

_He can read my mind. It’s not safe here! I have to leave, he’s lying!_

_“No I’m not. Look at your hand, son!”_

_I do, and there’s a knife._

_I scream._

** Midorima’s POV **

****

“STOP!”

I was fast asleep in my chair when I woke with a start, the book on my lap falling down to the floor. I had taken a few books along to entertain myself since there was nothing else to do other than watch the sleeping Takao. But now he was awake and sitting upright, eyes looking at his surroundings madly, a film of sweat covering his small form.

He was gasping for breath and looked terrified and disoriented. He suddenly moaned in deep pain, contorting his face and halting all of his movements. The drugs I had given him during the night so he could sleep had already stopped working, he was completely aware now.

“Hey, stop!” I said, trying to grab him by his shoulders to put him back into the bed. “You might open your wounds again! Calm down!”

At first he didn´t respond, he only seemed to shiver and grow desperate because of the approaching object. But he suddenly flinched away from my touch, a new wave of pain notoriously going through his body. I sighed, what the heck should I do with him?

“Kid, look at me, please” Takao gasped, eyes opening wide for a second and then hid behind closed eyelids. I watched in concern and awe at his manners. Why was he so afraid of me after last night? Did he not remember?

“Do you know who I am?” I asked, trying to sound as gentle as possible.

“T-they…” he started, his voice raspy and worn, dry from screaming. “They t- told me… not to lo…ok back…”

I furrowed my eyebrows at that. Had that been part of a nightmare?

“Whatever you are thinking, I’m not that person” I said, not sure if it was going to help someway. “I need you to tell me if you remember me, please”

His head shook, trying his best not to open his eyes. His eyelids trembled, and I knew he was having a war inside his head whether to look or not.

“I promise I’m not going to hurt you…”

All of a sudden, my green eyes met greyish-blue, and the slave’s mouth gaped. New tears formed in his eyes and I had to retain myself from shedding some too. He really was miserable; I could even smell the relief showing on his face just because by recognizing me. He looked around quickly as if catching his bearings and checking if his eyes weren’t lying before he answered. At least I felt glad when he finally realized who I was.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…” he spouted, too rushed for my own liking. “I’m sorry, I-I… I didn’t mean to…”

“Hey shh, it’s ok” I said, awkwardly patting his shoulder. He shuddered at the contact, but stood still, looking at me. God, why was it so hard to deal with people?!

The kid sniffed, now wheezing slightly. He started closing his eyes in pain; his back had been too strained from the effort. The kid cried in agony, and I started feeling the panic spearing my chest as his eyes fluttered alarmingly.

“Come on, keep your breathing nice and steady. Keep your eyes on me so I can help you. I need you to stay awake.” I grabbed his shoulders again, this time pushing him a little towards the bed. “Lay down back on the bed, please, so your injuries won´t open again.”

He nodded slowly, and carefully let himself rest on the mattress. His body felt stiff under my touch, and he seemed dizzy because of being up for that long. He did wake up very abruptly after all, and had started to tremble from the effort. He still whimpered when he made contact, just like the night before, but not as bad this time. His face was rigid, his fear almost palpable.

But although he seemed really pale, the blood bags had done wonders for him. It didn’t look like any of the wounds had opened again. The white sheets didn’t have any sign of blood and at least the bandages on his front were still pristine. I put some pillows behind his back so the headboard wouldn´t hurt him and he finally laid back down in a sitting position. He closed his eyes for some seconds, sighing in comfort.

I sat down back on the chair slowly. The kid was still a bit frightened of me, so I tried to be cautious of every movement. “Are you alright?” I asked, feeling a little dumb about the question. Of course he wasn’t, but he should understand what I mean, right?

Trying to catch his breath, Takao nodded. “I see… Do you feel pain anywhere? Is there some place that feels different than others?”

He looked at me like I was stupid, and nodded again with a small smile forming on his lips.

“J-just the normal, I guess…” he said cautiously, and I heard the remnants of a joke on the statement. What a cruel phrase to say in his state… “My throat feels a bit sore, though.” He added a cough to the end of the sentence to prove his point.

Without saying anything, I turned to the nightstand where I had left a glass of water before I had fallen asleep. I grabbed it with both hands, directing it to Takao carefully. When he saw what I was carrying, his eyes widened like I’d never seen before, and I felt my own lips curving at the sight. It was still sad to think that something as basic as water brought such emotions to him, but it made me glad to be able to provide it.

“Here” knowing that Takao wouldn’t be able to grab the glass properly, I assisted him with it, holding it from the base even when his little hands took a grip on the object. He accepted it gratefully with wide eyes, bowing his head slightly.

He tilted the glass slowly, letting the liquid wet his lips before opening them and drinking it in delight, like he hadn’t tasted something like it in years.

“Thank you, master…” he said humbly once he had finished half of the glass. I could see how much effort it took to do so, his eyes closing slightly at every swallow in pain. But he did it eagerly, as if the glass would disappear at any moment.

“Do not call me that” The slave flinched again, and I quickly added “Ah, my bad. I didn’t mean it to sound that way, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“W-what…” Takao started, but the words caught on his throat, looking quite shy to speak. He hid his eyes.

“Go on, I won’t get mad.”

He nodded, making eye contact for a second and then casted his gaze down again. “What should I call you, then?”

“My name’s Midorima Shintaro.” I said simply, given the fact that everyone around called me a different way. I just let him choose how he preferred. He looked confused by my answer, probably troubled because I didn’t give him any concrete response. But he nodded anyways.

“Midorima… seems familiar somehow.” He whispered, but shook his head afterwards.

“Must be because it’s the name of many successful hospitals all over Japan, everyone has heard it some way or other.” I replied, not meaning to add the proud tone I heard on my own voice. I sighed, the habits.

But the kid chuckled at it, and I forgot my mistake immediately.

The peaceful moment didn’t last for long and Takao started having a coughing fit soon after. To my trained ears, it sounded too dry to be normal, and he couldn’t stop.

I stood up from my seat and patted his back softly, carefully avoiding the wounded tissue. The raven haired’s body lurched with every cough, provoking a whimper in between breaths because of the strain that was put on the wounds by the sudden movements. He bent over, trying his best to control it while I slowly rubbed his back. There was nothing much I could do after all.

“Try and breath through it.” I advised and, as trite as it sounded, the technique seemed to help. The coughing wasn´t helping his body to heal at all. The best we could do right now was try and suppress it.

 “M’fine” Takao managed to say after the fit had passed. I grabbed the glass again, letting him drink what he had left from before. When he turned around to receive it, he was breathing hard again, his face red and his eyes watering.

“You don’t seem that fine to me”

He drank what was left slowly, taking time between swallows. The glass was left empty, and I helped Takao back into the bed. He seemed completely worn out.

“Wait…” he said once he realized what I was doing. He grabbed my arm with his small hand, stopping my movements. “You still have too much to ask; you barely know anything about me!”

I looked at him for a while, confused by his words.

“I have your files on the table”

The slave paled at the mention of them, but shook his head and continued. “By reading only that you won’t have a true view of myself…” he murmured.

I sighed.

“You need to rest.” I said, pushing him down until he was laying on his back. He winced a little, but accommodated easily once he was completely tucked in. “Keep your inquiries for later and wait until you regain your strength.”

He was already beginning to close his eyes from exhaustion, but kept arguing with me.

“You will hate me.” he said, and I swear I heard a sob coming out from that mouth accompanying his voice.

“I am not going to hurt you.” I replied, feeling my heart break at the sight. “I already know what to expect, boy. You must not doubt me that way.”

His eyes became teary as he looked back at me. After a moment, he smiled as he responded solemnly,

“I do not doubt you” He said trough teary eyes. “I have trusted you ever since I heard your voice…”

We locked gazes again, and I nodded feeling slightly pleased.

“What is your name, if I may ask?” Even though I already knew it, I had to ask. He had accepted me fully, and had started to trust me since the beginning. I don’t know how I even got that privilege, but it made my chest warm by knowing I was someone he believed on.

It made me happy to be someone who could take him away from that hell.

The boy looked at me and seemed to hesitate for a while before answering,

“Takao… Takao Kazunari.”

I nodded and saw him smile again. I returned it with a slight bow and watched as his eyes finally close as he gave a deep, content sight.

The smile was still dancing on his lips when I went to retrieve Takao’s files from my desk, preparing myself for what I already knew would happen.

But I was not going to let him down now.

 

** Aomine’s POV **

****

It had all started with an innocent question born of boredom.

"You wanna go somewhere?"

Kise looked at me like I’m stupid, a piece of pizza midair between his mouth and the plate it came from. It was already the second box we had ordered after we played some games to entertain ourselves. But I had already ran out of things to do inside the apartment.

"Where do you want to go?" he asks, cocking his head to the side, curiosity brimming in his amber eyes.

Without hesitation, I answer, "Anywhere."

"Yeah, okay," the blond says, his grin widening to a brilliant smile. "Let's go somewhere."

"Somewhere", it turns out, was farther than I anticipated. We went out of the dorms and headed to the forest next to it, following the path to the entrance. No car would have let us both out –it was either me or no one, given that Kise was a slave – so we just walked. Kise seemed really nervous when we crossed the gates of the entrance towards the road, waving a taxi to pick us up, and even more as he shrank into the back of the car, looking at the window in fear.

Well, after years of being imprisoned, I supposed he would be a little more surprised, but it didn’t seem like it. He was nervous because he was out, that was crazy! I was not that sure if it was allowed to take a slave out of the university like I was doing right now, but what was the worst that could happen? I knew Kise wouldn’t try to leave, so it was ok, right?

We got out of the taxi on the outskirts of the city, just a few miles into it, when it started to rain heavily.

It was by luck that the subway was still running late enough for us to catch a ride, Kise eyeing the platform and the arriving train with a look of marked interest.

I suddenly felt myself drooling a bit, baffled with the way the blonde’s eyes drank everything in with a sort of strange wonderment and he chuckles, the sound low and barely muffled, before he steps off the platform and onto the train. The car is empty save for a few scattered patrons sitting at the far end from where we enter, and I nod over to a pair of seats across from the sliding doors. "What's your deal with the train?"

"Hm? What do you mean?" he asks, with his gaze still frozen on the passing buildings on the window.

"You're looking at everything funny. It's just a train, you know."

"Oh! That!" he exclaims, his laughter bouncing off the walls. He looks a little embarrassed, his expression making me feel somewhat guilty for putting him on the spot. "I'm sorry, it's just that... I've never been on the subway before."

At the admission, I can feel my eyes widen and I scoff before I can stop himself. "You're shittin' me. Never?"

It's a really rare thing to meet someone who's never taken the train when the majority of the population relies on it to get around various parts of the city. Maybe he could afford taxies or had a relative with a car, or simply didn’t need it when he was free.

Ouch, that had been a really mean thought. Stop thinking about it, he’s just as free as you’re right now, Daiki.

"Nope, never." When Kise glances over and glimpses my expression, he flinches before quickly recovering. "Is that bad? It's not like I never wanted to; it's just been something I've never had to do."

My interest suddenly piques, wanting to take advantage of his remark.

“What did you do for a living before you got imprisoned?” I said, missing the lack of empathy on my voice.

His mouth formed a line and he casted his gaze downwards. “It’s not something I’d like to talk about.”

But before I have the chance to ask another question, our stop is announced as the train hisses to a complete halt. "C'mon, princess," I tease as I shove my hands into my pockets. I motion toward the exit with a dip of my head, mouth quirked into a grin and a chuckle suppressed when Kise follows like a dog wagging his tail behind me.

Our footsteps echo through the enclosed space until we reach the stairway leading up to the open street and into the chilly night air, a few drops of rain falling from the sky. There are still people milling around, their pace hurried as the rain continues to fall.

My steps quicken and it isn't until we are nearing our destination that I realize how close in proximity we’ve become. While I’m not normally one to accept a breach of my personal space, I find that I don’t mind this time around, and bite back the tang of disappointment when Kise steps away as we approach the gym that we’ve come to out of habit.

I halt when I see the sign detailing the hours of operation and reach out to jiggle the doors without any luck, cursing myself for never remembering their schedule. "Crap, I thought they'd still be open," I say turning around, ready to apologize for coming all the way here.

"Are you going to let that stop you?" There is a glint in Kise’s eyes as he tilts his head to the side. His lips are quirked just enough to elicit a reaction in my gut; the beginnings of an excitement I haven’t felt in a long while. There's a challenge there, both in the enunciation of the words and in his body language, and I have never been one to back down from a challenge.

I chuckle. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" I look around and spot the small alleyway to the left of the building and an idea comes to mind. Without thinking, I grab hold of Kise’s hand and tug him along, checking to make sure no one is around to see us sneaking away toward the back entrance before we duck into the narrow space.

We neared the chain-link fence that leads to the rear of the building, almost having to crawl under some garbage bags. I let go of Kise, grabbing hold of the creaking metal. I begin to climb, used to the rough feeling in my hands and it takes just a few seconds before I’m hoisting myself over, jumping down with little more than a quiet scuff on the pavement. "You know, you really don't have to-"

Before I can finish, Kise had already scaled the fence, his grip sure as he copies my previous movements, landing next to me with ease. I feel my jaw hanging loose at the hinges, disbelieving and more than a little impressed. Kise smirks and raises an eyebrow. "You were saying?"

I clear my throat and shake my head, barely managing a mumbled, "full of surprises..." before I set off toward the gym.

“Seriously, what did you do before you got trapped into this dunk yard of slavery?”

"Your efforts are duly noted. You're not offended, right?" Kise asks, following behind as we enter the indoor court, shrug off our jackets, and set our things on the sidelines.

There is a hint in his tone, somewhat pleading and for a moment, I am thrown off by it. My curiosity is still high and the more Kise dodges my questions, the greater my need to know becomes. But I understand the hesitation as well; having to recall and tell a past that got him into hell to a total stranger would have had me on my nerves too. So instead of responding to what might potentially be an awkward response anyway, I head into the storage closet to retrieve one of the spare basketballs, and return with the ball slowly dribbling at my side.

Ah, music to my ears.

"And how was it?" I ask mid-pass. A smirk curls my lips, an aura off me in a way that usually intimidates my opponents. But not Kise. The smirk is returned in kind as he catches the pass with ease and instantly, my fingers tingle in anticipation.

"Home? It had a roof." The blonde answers without hesitation, dribbling the ball so naturally that I’m momentarily transfixed by it, distracted enough that I barely have time to register Kise’s actions when he steps up my game and drives past me. The ball sails through the air in an effortless lay-up. "I don't want to ruin it."

"How would telling me about your past life ruin everything?"

"Just," he starts, sighing before he pauses as though trying to find the right words to say. "Haven't you ever had something really good happen, something that you can't really explain, that you weren't expecting, but it does and you want to just experience it? Without any ties, without putting labels on anything?"

I pick up the ball and pivot around Kise while I mull over the questions. Freedom. He was talking about freedom.

"Yeah, I guess so.” I said, with a bit of regret on my words. “I'm just trying to figure out why you're so hell-bent on not giving me anything when you said so yourself that you're having a good time." Kise gets in his face to block, but I’m too quick, too seasoned with years of street ball experience and high school tournaments to let it defeat me, and soon the ball swoops through the net using one of my signature shots; formless and unorthodox and leaving the blonde speechless.

"I guess you can say I'm trying to test fate,"

"Guess fate's telling you it doesn't like to be tested."

With that said, we leave words for later and keep playing.

We bounced the ball for what felt like an eternity, neither of us giving up. Pieces of clothing gradually starting to accumulate on the side of the court as the game advanced. Kise was a really good basketball player, and soon after I learned that he had been copying my movements and using them against me, I started playing more seriously. He easily got into my pace, and we managed to keep a pretty good rhythm going on. Stealing, shooting, dribbling… it all seemed so surreal, like it was just another match with Kagami. Just that this was different from that.

It was Kise I was playing with.

Many droplets of water fell on the windows of the gym when we called it a night.

 I run back to the storage room, basketball in tow to put it away. "C'mon, I think we're done with the one-on-one for tonight."

"I could've played some more and probably beat you." he grumbles on our way out.

The teasing comment gives me a pause and I try to save a portion of my dignity to no avail. With the way he moved, he would have gotten pretty close to me if we had stayed for a while longer.

We started walking towards the subway station again, content with the little exercise we did and for being able to take Kise out. It was really cold right now, the droplets of water falling on us as we walked.

As we were heading to the platform, I heard something to my left, just by Kise’s side of the way.

“Spare some change, mate?” A man in a faded oversized coat held a hand before him, smiling hopefully.

Kise looked at me with bright eyes, seeming disturbed by the attention. I shrugged, and after Kise looked back again to the man to tell him he didn’t have any money I realized what he had thought.

The man looked just like the slaves I had seen at the wards. I dug into my pockets quickly for the last of the cash I had, making sure there was some left for the train and taxi to the dorms.

“Here,” I said, pouring a handful of coins into the man’s hands. “Sorry it’s not much.”

“That’s okay.”

Just as I was about to walk away, I felt a shiver running down my spine. I looked back, and I saw the man’s smile taking on an unfriendly edge. The hand that was not clutching the coins pulled out a pocket knife, thumbing open a blade with practiced ease. My breath caught in my throat as I saw the light from a flickering telescreen run down the sharp edge of the knife.

Everything from after I saw the knife became a blur of motions. The man had taken a step towards Kise, who had also taken a step back.

“You can hand something else for me, huh? Pretty boy…” With fast movements, the attacker grabbed Kise by the neck and pointed the knife at him. I stood there, paralyzed, unable to form any thoughts. Seeing the knife that close to the blonde scared me.

The man’s eyes widened out of nowhere, and he smiled at Kise. “Look what we have here!” he exclaimed, moving his free hand to Kise’s stomach. He tried to resist, but the knife pushed closer to him. “It seems you were hanging out with an escort slave, young man.”

Kise’s breath hitched at the mention of the name and I felt the rage flooding my veins. Instead of thinking “How did he know that?” came an unusual “How dare he call him that?!”.

The man smirked at my reaction and pushed further on my nerves by licking a part of Kise’s neck that was not covered by his jacket. He whimpered and tried to shrink into himself with no avail.

“Motherfucker…” I muttered, full of anger.

He smirked again, lowering his hand toward Kise’s lower region. He whimpered in fear.

“Why so mad, bro?” the man said, groping Kise with force. “He was made for this, after all!”

Because of that I lost it.

I bolted forward, successfully taking the stranger by surprise and pushing Kise away from him. When he got a grip on what was going on, the man pursued with a vicious slash of his knife that nicked too close to Kise’s neck, causing him to trip on his own feet and fall on his back, unprepared for the stranger’s blow.

It all happened really fast. I saw myself suddenly attacking the man. He looked shocked when my fist made contact with his face, making him drop the knife and knocking him to the floor. It didn’t matter much for me, and I just gave him another kick after he fell. Son of a bitch.

The next thing I knew, I was sitting next to Kise, checking for any injury on his body with him repeating he was fine over and over again. He was shivering really bad, and his eyes were wide and disoriented.

“I…” he tried to say, but choked on his own words.

“It’s okay Kise, you’re all right.” I assured, and helped him get up from the floor. While I was at it, I noticed that he kept hugging himself with his hands, his gaze lost into the distance. “Hey…”

“Let’s just go home” he said, and I nodded.

There was no one left on the station, and this was the last train of the night. The empty hallways were a relief for Kise, but I couldn’t stop the feeling I got in my guts. That sick bastard! How dare he do that?!

We got into the train and sat down next to each other.

Kise was shivering like crazy, obviously shocked by the experience. At the memory of it, I pulled Kise in for a hug, regardless of what he could think about it. He was paralyzed for a second, but soon after found himself relaxing in my arms, trying to get closer into the embrace.

“I’m so sorry about that…” I whispered, muffled by both our jackets.

“It’s okay. It was nothing compared to the wards.” He replied, trying to form a joke. I frowned as I heard a sob after he said it.

“Please, don’t say that.”

We stayed in silence after that until a feminine voice announced that our stop was coming next. Kise had lost all the enthusiasm of the new experience that was traveling in a train because of the incident, and it made me sad. I kept embracing him until the end, and when we had to get up he stayed even closer to me than before, walking slowly through the rainy night.

“How did he know you were a slave?” I asked gently once we had entered the taxi.

Kise hesitated, but answered anyways after some seconds. He didn’t look at me though. “I have a piercing on the back of my neck.” He murmured, and turned his head so I could see.

As he had said, here was a piece of metal right where his neck stated. A long stick that ended with crosses on both sides. I had the immediate urge to take it out. “The crosses mean that I am a “B” rank or, as that guy said, a slave used for…” He stopped mid-sentence, and I nodded in understatement, not wanting to hear that word from his mouth.

“Can I take it out?” Kise smiled sadly, but shook his head.

“Well, you _can_ , but you would have to put a collar on me instead, and that’s even more notorious.”

“Why?” He chuckled now, and finally looked at me.

“It’s the rules! You haven’t read them?”

I shook my head.

“Every slave must have something for others to recognize them, be a tattoo, a piercing, a collar…”

I suddenly had an idea.

“Then you’ll use this.” I took off the scarf I was wearing and, under Kise’s confused stare, I proceeded to wrap it over his neck.

The blonde observed in awe at my movements, frozen in place.

“There you go.” I said once I finished. Now my scarf was covering that awful piercing and part of Kise’s mouth. “You didn’t say everyone must know what your tag meant.”

“What?” he blurted out, blushing to a light pink.

“We’ll just keep it a secret. Ok? This will be your new slave recognizing thingy.” I said laughing, holding out my hand with my pinkie finger out.

Kise laughed too, and mimicked my gesture, wrapping his finger over mine.

“You know nothing about how the system works, right?” He chuckled. “I like that.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go, all chapters have been edited as you asked.   
> Enjoy! (well, uh, suffer too, the story is quite sad isn't it?)


	10. Remnants of the Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand here I am with another chapter!  
> enjoy!

**Murasakibara’s POV**

When I heard movement from the bedroom in front of me, I quickly shut Himuro’s files and slipped them back into their folder. Whatever reason he had for committing the supposed-to-be awful, awful crime, I didn’t want him to remember it. By the time Himuro limped back into the living room, I was already back in my seat pretending I didn’t know anything about the papers folded on the table.

“Can I take another pain pill, master?” Himuro asked, coming to stand in front of me, one of my shirts hanging loose from his bony shoulders.

Given the lack of muscle and mass in his body, he had been suffering from constant pain on his joints. He could barely grasp something with his hands without his wrists hurting. Also, because of the nature of the slave houses, he had been used so much that practically everything ended up in pain.

“Yeah, I don’t care,” I said, shaking my head. The question confused me at first, but when Himuro hurried over to the prescription bottles on the kitchen counter I realized the slave wasn’t used to doing much of anything without permission. Or maybe he’d already taken half the bottle and wanted my opinion on whether or not it was safe to take a few more. “How many of those have you had today?” I asked, just to make sure he wasn´t hooked on them too. From what the files mentioned about his past, he had had traces of some drugs on his blood when he was caught.

That morning, Himuro had taken one of the pain pills as well as the vitamins and antiretrovirals Midorima had said he should need. I really hoped Himuro didn’t take all of the medication at once. There was no way I could buy him more and didn’t want to see what would happen if I found out my new roommate was a pill addict too.

“I had one this morning, master.” He mumbled, getting a cup of water to help wash down the pill.

“Hmm” I said, turning around on the couch to watch as Himuro started washing the glass he’d gotten out and then set to cleaning a pan in the sink. “How does pasta sound for dinner?”

“Can we get mushrooms on it?” he asked, head turning and his face brightening for a second, but then seemed embarrassed for asking on the first place and went back to clean.

“Yeah. I don’t care,” I said. When Himuro turned away from the sink, finished cleaning, he was actually smiling. The promise of food—or maybe it was because he’d gotten a say in their meal—making him glow the way a person who was unfairly been accused of murder had no right to.

As I was cooking the pasta, Himuro kept pacing back and forth in the kitchen as if lost. Every once in a while he would hurry into the bedroom as if being chased by something, then moments later would come back out and pace the kitchen some more. I didn’t know if the behavior was his way of working through the pain his body was in or if the drugs were giving him hallucinations, but it was unsettling either way.

I understood that he couldn’t just sit down given the state he was in, but the constant movement had to be causing him just as much pain.

“Would you just lie down somewhere?” I snapped after I got tired of hearing my companion pacing back and forth.

“I can’t,” He said, his tone the same as a child complaining about homework.

“Why?” I asked.

“When I lay down I feel like I’m going to throw up.”

“Oh. Is that from the medication?” I turned around from the stove to watch Himuro as he paced back and forth in front of the kitchen sink.

“I don’t know—yeah, I guess.”

“Are you sure you’re okay? You seem kind of…nervous.” It was a stupid question and I knew it. Was Himuro nervous? Of course he was fucking nervous. He had no idea where he was or what would happen to him, he was in pain and (for all intents and purposes) at the disposal of a complete stranger.

“I’m… I don’t know.” Himuro went away from the kitchen in order to stand beside the couch.

“What’s… Um, do you want to talk about it?” I asked doubtfully.

Himuro looked back at me, his face hopeful but afraid at the same time. I could sense he wanted to talk, and I mentally cursed myself for asking. Some people could be really annoying if asked that kind of thing.

“Are you… Is master afraid of me?” he muttered, looking back at the files on the table. Ah, he saw them.

I paused for a while, looking at him. He seemed anxious for my answer, as if thinking I would tie him up and let him starve until death if I answered with a yes.

“Why did they put you into the system if your crime was justified?” I said instead. If that was what was bothering him, then I could ask some questions too.

But instead of an answer, he seemed confused.

“Justified…?” he repeated.

“Your step-father abused you and your step-sister, so you shot him. Justified.” I might have missed some touch at my words, because he was as pale as snow when I finished talking.

“It says _that_ on my file?!” He exclaimed, utterly terrified.

“It’s not like that?”

“It… it is but… it’s not supposed to…” He began shaking, losing himself on his own mind when he suddenly snapped. “Alex!”

“Who’s that? Your step-sister?”

“She changed the story!” Himuro put his hands on his mouth, conscious that something he shouldn’t have said escaped his mind.

I looked at him through roughly, assessing the situation. Was the file wrong? Had he not done everything the file said?

“I need your help” he suddenly said, and I looked back at his grey eyes. “Please master, I need your help on something.”

I was at a loss of words, what did he need from me? And how did he gather all that courage to ask if he almost broke when I caught him trying to drink the water I had left _for_ him?

“I need you to explain first. Tell me what’s wrong with your file and we can talk afterwards.” He looked at me through teary eyes, failing to keep them from falling, and nodded.

I put the fire at a low setting and went to sit next to him on the couch.

 

**Himuro’s POV**

_He preyed on us from the beginning, he tortured us until we were on the brink of insanity. I flaunted myself, forcing me to look away and pray that he would go away. But that was unlikely, it was improbable. Alex and I knew it was wrong to try it, to hide away on the shadows and pretend nothing ever happened. But it’s not like I wanted too, oh no, in fact it was the opposite, I wanted everyone to know. But before we had the chance to let mom know, that demon had snatched it at first hand._

_Mom was gone. She left._

_Now Alex took her place, gasping under him, her fingers curling around the sheet that spread over his bed. This monster, my stepfather, was grinding her torturously, making Alex whine in discomfort and pain. And he made me watch all the scene. He loved having his way with Alex and then continue with me when she was spent. I hated this, I truly did._

_“Tatsuya…” A voice gasped, it wasn’t like her voice, plus she would never say that of his own free will in this kind of situation. The demon above her smirked down at her hot and sweaty body. We both were shaking, trembling, praying that it would end soon._

_“Alex, I’m here, don’t worry.” I responded sweetly, trying to assure her that I would cuddle her in my arms after the monster was done. We hated him and he hated this. Alex whined as stepfather’s fingers scraped across her skin._

_“Shut up, slut!” he shouted at the time he trusted once more._

_“Please…” Alex rasped, “…stop.”_

_“You don’t mean that, do you?”_

_“I do… Please…”_

_He slapped her and I stood up._

_“Don’t.” he said, stopping me on my tracks. I complied, what would he do to Alex if I didn’t? “You think you have a voice in this, beauty?” He was talking to Alex now. “Who would pay for pretty face’s meds if I ended this, then? How would you feel knowing it was your fault that your cute little step-brother died on his own yellow bile because of a drug withdrawal?”_

_“You were the one who got me hooked on those things, scumbag!” I screamed full of anger, still in my place. “Don’t go blaming her for the horrible things you do!”_

_I cried out as I was thrown towards the wall out of nowhere, my back hitting it harshly before I fell to the floor on my stomach. He had gotten up from the bed so fast that I hadn´t noticed. I groaned, gasping for breath as I weakly got on my hands and knees._

_“S-stop…please…” Alex begged, looking up at the scowling monster._

_“Stop? You want me to stop?” The being sneered darkly, “Oh, no, no, no, Pretty Face here is…” He grinned madly, “I can’t stop. If I stop, then who’ll teach him the lesson?” He cackled, he raised a hand to my neck and, as he did so, my body tensed up again._

_“You’ve been careless, Tatsuya,” he growled. “You’ve been coming home late, guiding people to the truth, to me! You thought I wouldn’t notice huh?”_

_“I haven’t! I swear-!” I choked, feeling my throat constricting. I grasped at the ruthless hands, feeling the oxygen being derived from my brain. He ran a hand through his hair, dropping his hand and my body carelessly. I coughed and gasped for breath and he frowned, “Father, I haven’t been guiding anyone,” I rasped, my voice cracking._

_“Oh you haven’t? Really?” He scoffed, “Then tell me why the hell this slut is being so brave at asking me to stop! She wouldn’t go against me if she was alone! You must have done something!” He roared, shoving me against the wall before tossing me to the other-side of the room. I cried out, having heard something snap and a hot, sharp pain filled my arm. A bright blinding light filled my vision and I cried out, holding onto my throbbing arm._

_“Father! Stop it” I heard Alex scream._

_“I…that wasn’t what… I don’t have anything to do…” I whimpered helplessly, “I’m sorry, please…” I sniffled, weakly sitting up. The apology seemed to further anger the man and he growled. His fists clenched tightly and his whole body shook._

_“Oh, you’ll be sorry, Pretty Face,” he grinned wickedly, his voice dangerously low, “I’ll show you how sorry you’ll be,” He reached out and pulled me to him. I yelped and tried to grab onto something, but before I could I was in his clutches, “I’ve been soft on you, Beautiful. Didn’t want to scar that cute face of yours” He threw me to the ground. I whimpered at the pain in my arm and struggled to scoot away, but the man yanked me back by my ankles, “Way too soft, so how about I up the ante, huh?” He cackled._

_Two things happened to me in that moment, one was that any coherent thought I might’ve had disappeared the moment my pants and underwear were ripped off. The second was that I heard a deafening sound right in front of me and all motion from the other man stopped as I fought to get my consciousness back._

_When I opened my eyes, I fought down the urge to throw up._

_I looked down, what had happened? Trying to grasp the situation, I blinked once or twice. My mind still hadn’t gone through the shock._

_It did when I took a glimpse of the red, bloody mess mixed with organs and tissue on the floor._

_I looked up right after, not quite ready to stare at the remaining parts of the monster, and realized Alex had a gun on her hands, smoke coming out of the barrel. She remained motionless before one by one, the tears began to fall. Her lip quivered and her breathing had become heavy, biting her lip as her body was overcome with sobs. She dropped the gun onto the bed and covered her mouth, muffling the noises as she let out her grief, unaware of her surroundings._

_“Alex…” I stood up slowly, grabbing my clothes on the way and pulling them back up. I realized they were also covered in blood, but I needed to go to Alex fast._

_I sat next to her on the bed stiffly, she still didn’t move when I did, her gaze fixed on some spot on the blood-covered wall._

_“Baby girl?”_

_“He left the garage open.” She whispered in a hoarse voice. She didn’t stop looking at that wall._

_“The gun was in a cupboard, right by the computer…” She suddenly snapped out of the shock and looked at me through teary eyes. “I didn’t want to hurt anymore!” her voice trembled, and the tears ran down her face like waterfalls._

_“I know that, Alex. Please, calm down, you’re okay”_

_“But he’s…” I directed her face back to me with my hand, resting it softly on her cheek._

_“Don’t look that way. He’s gone.”_

_We stayed in silence for some seconds until I heard the sound of sirens outside._

_“Crap, the neighbors called the police!” I exclaimed, going to the window and, as I suspected, I saw red and blue lights on the distance._

_“Tatsuya…” Alex whispered, her face as white as the sheets under her. “Tatsuya they’re going to make me a slave! They are…”_

_I felt myself pale too at that, but a plan came to my mind almost immediately. I was not going to let her go to those filthy slave houses, not after what happened to us._

_I went to her and made her stand up. I grabbed her shoulders firmly, and made her look into my eyes._

_“You’re not. Listen, I raped you.” Her eyes widened, and she realized what I was doing. “Alex, we don’t have much time, you have to listen. I was high and raped you, your dad came back home and found us both on this room. I had his gun, I had taken it before and shot him while we wrestled. I tried to get at you again but then I tried to make a run for it when the police came. Got it?”_

_Alex shook his head, tears flowing freely down her face._

_“Tatsuya… please don’t do this…” she whispered, her voice broken and trembling._

_“You don’t know where the gun was. You think it was in the garage…”_

_“Why can’t you say you came home and he was raping me?! That would get you away from trouble!” she claimed, and I smiled at how much she worried about me. I would miss her so much._

_“You would be questioned for him over and over again, they would think you were prostituting yourself and sent you to slavery anyways.” I explained slowly._

_“And your story? Won’t they ask about you?”_

_“That’s why you can’t omit the part that I smelled like weed. Keep the story like what I told you. You are scared and in panic, ask to be taken to the hospital, whatever. Be the victim, stay hidden.” I said, almost like if it were a mantra._

_She sobbed and I felt my own eyes getting watery. I would never see her again…_

_“I’m so sorry…” she said._

_“I am too. I wish I was the one who held the gun, not you…” I held her closer and kissed her forehead. “Goodbye Baby Girl, you’re free. Go to Taiga and tell him what happened, he’ll take good care of you.”_

_I didn’t wait for an answer and went to retrieve the gun. I spend quite a good time at putting my fingertips all over and covering Alex’s. I looked at the body once more and grimaced at the looks of it. She had shot him right on the head, and the brain was splattered all over the floor. So disgusting, but he deserved it._

_The sirens were heard really close now, and I suspected they were at the corner of the street by now. As I told Alex, I ran down the stairs and bolted out of the front door._

_Alex is safe now, she’s free, I told myself as I ran, feeling my heartbeat going faster at the thought of being imprisoned for god’s know how much time. It was all for her, I couldn’t feel bad about it._

_I would do anything to protect her, and now she was out of that hell. She was the one who got out at her own free will, and I was being punished because I wasn’t brave enough to protect her._

_My heart felt heavy anyways. The hell I was getting into sucked worse than the last one._

 

I felt shaken at what I had told the purple giant that was my new master, but if I really wanted to find what had happened to Alex if she had told the whole story, I had to do it.

He confirmed my story with what my files said, except for the real killer. She had kept that detail to herself, thank god.

“So you want to find out if she’s fine.” He said.

“Yes. I beg you, master.”

He nodded at me, smirking.

“I will… with one condition.”

I felt my body temperature going colder. Of course, it was obvious he would want something in exchange. God, if his body was this big then down there… Fuck, I would need more pain pills afterwards.

“What is it, master?” I said politely, bowing my head and preparing myself to be taken into the room and forced to strip.

“You have to stop calling me _master._ From what you told me, you have no reason to be a slave anymore.” I gasped in shock, and looked up to see if he was lying. “My name’s Murasakibara Atsushi.” He said, holding out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Muro-chin.”

My mouth gaped at both the request and the silly name he gave me. Was he for real?

“I uh… Nice meeting you…” I said, grabbing his hand with my minuscule one. “A-Atsushi?”

He smiled at me as he shook my hand. “Huh, American, right?”

I nodded, eyes locked with his.

“Well, do you want to eat pasta now?”

 

**Kuroko’s POV**

I struggled hard to shake off the fog that clouded my mind, cracking open my eyes dazedly and blinking several times before I was able to make out anything of my surroundings. For a moment, what I saw made me think that my ordeal was merely born from the use of a master and that I was still not back in my own dark corner at the cell; rich cushions lay everywhere on the bed, and the walls of the richly furnished room were decorated with expensive-looking hangings. The air was heavy with the scent of a sunny day and cool, satiny sheets rubbed against my skin. The wonderful illusion lasted only a moment, however, before I felt again the terrible thirst as I tried to swallow, and the burning in my cracked back. Confused, I tried to sit up and was overcome with a wave of dizziness which quickly put me back down again. A cool hand pressed against my forehead soothingly, and I flinched at it.

But, it seemed familiar and… comforting.

"Easy now, little one," said a gentle voice. "Those nights did not take kindly to you. It will be some time before you regain your full strength." Something smooth and cold was pressed against my lips, and I recoiled, afraid and confused. "Drink," said the voice. "You must replenish what the fever took from your body."

Feeling the sudden moisture lap against my parched lips, I quickly opened my mouth and reached up to grasp at what I now recognized was a glass of water. I struggled to swallow as much as I could, choking and spluttering in my haste to accept the offering before it was revoked. Gentle hands eased my efforts.

"Slowly," instructed the voice. "Take smaller sips or your stomach will cramp and reject the water."

I did as I was told, sipping slowly until the glass was taken away, my thirst only moderately slacked. Whimpering, I laid back and tried to look up at the source of the voice.

My savior, I remembered now. The red haired man back at the slave house. The one that made me feel warm again, and stayed with me during my feverish illusions. Not only had he helped me, he had saved my life.

"My name is Kagami Taiga" Big but gentle hands caressed my face tenderly, something he had enjoyed doing before. "And as you can see, I bought you from that… _place._ But, I don’t want you to be scared, I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I know.” I managed to croak. Kagami-sama sighed in relief, and fell silent.

Blinking several times painfully, I finally brought the features of my master into focus. Kagami-sama looked to be not much older than myself, but he was obviously some years ahead. His features were framed by dark crimson hair, and his deep, also red eyes held a sense of bravery and honest innocence that was complemented by lips that smiled easily. He was dressed in an outfit that seemed expensive even by the simplicity of it. Only a plain grey shirt and sweatpants, but even from a distance I could tell how soft and comfortable they were. Realizing I was staring, I quickly returned my attention to Kagami-sama’s face.

“You remember the green haired man that came in the morning?” he asked and I nodded, faintly remembering that color back on my haze. “Well, he told me you needed to eat and drink as much as you could. You were locked up in that place for too long, and needed medical attention.” I nodded again, and he noticed he was rambling.

I tried propping myself on the pillows again, but only managed to lift my head a bit before it fell back down. Kagami-sama noticed it and helped me up with gentle movements. I felt dizzy at the motions, but managed to stay in place.

“Could you tell me if you feel in pain somewhere?” he asked, concern present on his voice.

“N-no, just a bit tired…” I said, aware of my weary voice.

“You still got a little fever…” Kagami-sama mumbled, pressing his hands to my forehead. I nodded. “The medicine was right here; I’ll give you some.”

He looked around a bit and paused on the bedside table. He grabbed some pills and handed them to me, along with the glass of water.

“Ah! Wait!” I stopped when I was about to swallow the pills and froze in place. Kagami-sama’s voice had been gentle until now, but it seemed his patience had disappeared out of nowhere. I lowered my gaze, surprised that I had done something bad in such a short period of time. I also felt myself shaking, and I had to scold myself at that. Masters didn’t like when I shivered, not even if it was from cold.

“I’m sor…” I was in the middle of muttering an apology when Kagami-sama spoke again.

“I’m sorry!” he exclaimed, bowing deeply at the side of the bed. I frowned at it, surprised at the formality of the gesture. One I didn’t deserve one bit. “I didn’t mean to scare you, I apologize. It’s just that… you shouldn’t take those with an empty stomach…”

He looked like a hurt dog, like he had made the worst mistake ever. I was the one who should be doing that, not him!

He seemed to sense my confusion, and looked back at me. I had no words to say, how could I respond to that?! Was he asking me to forgive me? Had he been sarcastic and was just waiting for a response so I could be punished? But he had taken care of me! There was no way he would hurt me if he had taken so much time to heal me!

What should I do?

What does he want me to do?

He said he wouldn’t hurt me; I shouldn’t be scared of him.

But he has every right to do it. I am weak, helpless.

I’m an F…

I gasped, realizing something. He wanted me in full health, just like that person years ago. He wanted me to feel safe and relaxed, to lower my guard so he could hurt me for any mistake I made. He was just waiting so my reaction would be better when he decided to show his real intentions, right? Right?!

I felt something on my body. Something was squeezing me, trapping me. I realized my breathing was labored, and that there wasn’t enough oxygen in my lungs. I opened my eyes, but couldn’t see anything. There was just darkness around me, and the feeling of being constricted didn’t stop. I screamed, panicked, hoping someone would help me. But I realized it was a stupid thought. No one would ever help me. I was an F after all…

A hand touched my head. I frantically fought it off, exerting what little strength I had left. Apparently my training had taught me nothing. I kicked and clawed at every movement, even though I knew I was being restrained by something. Twisting my body frantically I tried to shrink away, tears turning hot as they flowed from my eyes. I stopped moving after my body started hurting, but the tears still came and I was crying openly. I stopped fighting. Nothing could save me now.

The hand returned for a third time, and gently touched my hair. The touch didn’t seem aggressive or harsh, but still, out of reflex I flinched away from it.

“Breathe.”

I heard a voice over me, a voice that seemed calm and safe. Warm. Maybe it was just my imagination, because there was no way it could be anyone real, but I listened.

“Breathe.” It repeated, as calm as before. The grip on my body didn’t lessen one bit, but the voice was like a light on the darkness around me. Like a beacon I had to follow.

I took a deep breath, and released it slowly. Then, I repeated the action. The oxygen started flowing right into my body, and many things around me began to make sense.

I was not sure if I was standing, sitting or lying down anymore. I felt confused, disoriented and frightened. I hated coming back to the darkness and confusion. Well, I hated coming back.

The more I breathed, the more I realized that I had been breathing too fast before. My mind had become clouded with thoughts, and stopped paying attention to my surroundings. When I finally regained a normal rhythm, I looked up slowly, and saw Kagami-sama watching me with so much concern on his furrowed brows that my own eyes widened. I felt something wet on my face, and realized that on some point of the ordeal, tears had started flowing freely and nonstop. I felt tired and my back hurt from the strain, but I went further into the warm hug Kagami-sama had trapped me in, feeling so relieved inside it that I didn’t want him to leave.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…” I said between sobs, embarrassed about the thoughts I had had about him. I hadn’t realized there had been many obvious differences between them. One was that my previous master had never taken care of me in person, there was always a maid who would tend my wounds and give me food and water. And also, every time I saw my previous master, there was this glint of lust in his eyes that I had grown so used to, that I never paid any attention to it. In Kagami-sama’s eyes, there was pure concern and gentleness, not a single trace of a dark emotion.

As if to prove my point, Kagami-sama gently pushed my face into the crook of his neck, letting me rest it on his shoulder. “It’s alright sweet boy, it wasn’t your fault.”

“But I…” a sob interrupted me, and Kagami-sama shushed my efforts.

“A panic attack is not your fault. They’re caused from memories, bad memories that should have never happened to you. Those are to blame, not you.” He started petting my head in slow motions, brushing my hair with his fingers. “I do apologize, anyways. I should have been more careful on my actions. I shouldn’t have brought those memories back. I’m sorry.”

Kagami-sama didn’t let me go after that, but I didn’t want him to go away. His touch was so gentle; I had almost forgotten what a painless touch felt like. After five minutes or so, he pushed away from me slightly, and I let go of his shirt, gaze downcast.

“You okay?” he asked and I nodded, the lump in my throat still there. He hummed in approval, and brushed my hair once more. “Listen, I called someone over so we could go through your files together and…”

I paled at the mention of them, and he cut himself off instantly. I still hadn’t looked back up at him, and his hand suddenly appearing on my field of view had me flinching immediately. I closed my eyes in shame, trying to lower my head as much as I could. But instead of hitting me, the hand rested on my chin and forced me to gaze at Kagami-sama’s eyes. Gently, I hadn’t expected such a thing.

Still, I refused to look up. Looking directly at a master’s eyes could get me into so much trouble…

“Look at me? Please?” He said. I tried to comply, years of obedience sessions flooding my mind with images. I tried many times, always failing over and over again. But my eyes managed to catch a glimpse of something I wasn’t prepared to see.

A smile; sad and pitiful, but a smile nonetheless.

He wanted me to look at him. It wasn´t an order, it was a request.

I hesitatingly glanced up, and saw Kagami-sama’s eyes. He smiled widely at that, and caressed my cheek with his thumb. I felt my face becoming red, and my eyes couldn’t tear apart from his.

“I already read them, you have nothing to be afraid of.” What? So all of this wasn’t just an act? “Why don’t we go to the living room so we can get you something to eat too? We can take things slow; I don’t want to trouble you.” He whispered, I found myself nodding again, unable to look away. “That’s good. You’re okay now.”

He let go of my face in unhurried motions, taking extra care on giving me an advance on what he was going to do next.

“Can you walk?” He asked, standing up from his spot on the bed.

“I-I…” I gulped, measuring the amount of pain I had on my legs. If I was not mistaken, the ache on them was because of… _sexual_ matters, and those weren’t something that did many wonders to my back either. “N-no, I don’t think I can walk, master…”

I felt the urge to bow again, given my uselessness. But Kagami-sama interrupted me before I was able to carry out that action.

“Yeah, I suspected.” He said. “Would you mind if I carry you?”

I stared at him, completely in awe.

“I-If that is… If that’s what master wants…” I murmured, too immersed on the shock to think of a more coherent answer.

Was he asking for my opinion?

“No, no” he exclaimed, waving his hand in front of him, still smiling. Good, he wasn’t mad. “I meant, would you feel comfortable if I carried you to the living room?”

I blinked, squinting my eyes as I slowly nodded. It was obvious Kagami-sama didn’t understand a thing about what he was implying with his question.

“Okay! Just tell me if you don’t like it.”

He took away the covers of the bed and for a second I thought of covering my body with my hands. But, as I realized later, I was not naked. Instead, there was a shirt that I supposed it was Kagami-sama’s covering my skin. I hadn’t noticed it before, but it was actually a nice gesture of him.

He noticed my interest on the shirt and spoke again.

“Sorry, I didn’t have any other shirt. Maybe we can ask for some smaller ones later. And pants, too.”

He then lifted my legs a bit, checking if I had felt any strain on them. Then, he put his arm under them and his other supported my back. He was ready to lift me, and I braced myself for the pain.

It came not long after my body stopped touching the bed, and I writhed on Kagami-sama’s arms. I tried not to move too much, but Kagami-sama was paying attention to my motions and was careful to let me rest on his chest once he lifted me fully.

I sighed in relief as the pressure on my body vanished, and relaxed on Kagami-sama’s grip. He looked at me for some seconds and then started walking towards the door where the other person was waiting.

We were going to check my files together, I thought, swallowing down hard.

He had already read them, but not for nothing I was an F.

I couldn’t let my guard down, or he could turn out worse than that last master that enjoyed beating me until I couldn’t walk.

I looked up in fright, but saw Kagami-sama smiling.

He can’t be that bad, I told myself.

There’s no way that smile can belong to a cruel person.

_Oh, but it can._ Said a dark voice inside my mind. _You have seen such a thing, and it was awful._

_He can be just like the others; fear is what keeps you alive._

_Darkness is the one that protects you._

_You shouldn’t let his light come close to you;_

_It might kill you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I had initially thought, Himuro is going to be the one doing most of the action on his parts. And as you noticed, some stories will merge, some others won't. Now you know some of his background story and I hope I can start clearing out some doubts in the following chapters regarding the rest of the characters.  
> It was a challenge to make Kuroko's part but I hope it turned out well. Being so scared all the time is a hard feeling to describe. D:  
> I will try to update as fast as I can because this chapter was cut in half so I woulnd't keep you waiting for so long.  
> Happy New Year to all of you!


	11. Painful Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW, and here I was thinking I would keep it as short as I could... I believed fluffness was going to eat my brain from inside, but it seems my hands didn't want to stop.  
> Well, here goes nothing, It was so long that I was lazy to read it again for mistakes.  
> Hope you like it anyways!

**Akashi’s POV**

To think Taiga was able to buy someone as an F was something not even I would predict coming from him, but at the same time seemed completely obvious. Just who was the idiot who decided to show him the mistreated, vulnerable beings in that ward _before_ he got to the ones that could be more useful? Why don’t we all let soft-hearted immature redheads inside a place where everyone is being punished for everything so they can buy the first that comes into view, who could be perfectly capable of slicing his throat while he slept?

I had to resist the urge to face palm as he told me that when he called.

Still, as I heard his voice on the phone, it intrigued me to meet this person. Taiga had chosen it the instant he saw him, so he had to have something interesting.

So, I went to his room to find out. The slave was currently recovering from a very bad fever and all of his injuries, or so Taiga had told me. Instead of telling me to leave because he had nothing to show me, he gave me the slave’s files so we could go through them, because he wasn’t sure if he would be able to handle what was on them.

I agreed; his unusual serious stance making me curious.

The files were larger than usual, containing a full police report of the slave’s crime. Being an F had that requisite.

We opened the first page together, reading the slave’s characteristics.

Kuroko Tetsuya, it said. 15 years old, imprisoned at the young age of 8. That was enough for Taiga to grimace at the words. Oh, the face he would make at a further read; this wasn’t going to be the worst part. There were two pictures on the file; the one when he was taken to the wards that showed a young kid with a lost and frightened stare, and one taken when he was transferred to Kirisaki. The same light blue eyes had lost all light they had in the first picture.

Next came a list of previous masters, punishments, medical reviews (which were so extended that we got tired of reading how many cuts and broken bones the poor child had had to take care of), and also the slave houses he had been in.

We finally got to his crime report, and the folder fell off my hands at the shock at the first paragraph that summarized it.

Taiga was pale and silent, not even a trace of the usual loud and energetic man he had always been. I heard him gulp once or twice before he picked the folder up and we started reading again.

It was so hard to describe, not even the detectives of the case had enough words to tell how the crime had happened. There were also pictures. Blood, two bodies. The murder weapon. Taiga held the pictures on his trembling hands and stared at them for some seconds, but then decided he couldn’t do it anymore and let them fall face down on the table. It was too much.

The kid was a psycho, I thought at first, and I could even smell the regret coming from Taiga’s body. Regret of buying the slave without knowing what he was getting into.

But, as we looked further into the files, we started to doubt. There was simply no way those details could go unnoticed for me, and Taiga was so focused on every single word that he perceived it almost before me. Some of the evidence was inconsistent with the actual story that the files described, and something just didn’t… click.

“He’s not guilty of that crime.” Taiga said after we finished with the folder for the third time.

“What makes you say that, Taiga? As far as I’m concerned, he was imprisoned because of something. There’s no way they would have just made such a mistake.” I said.

Taiga stood up and started pacing in front of me, his hand going to his face. He bit his thumb nail, a habit he had when he was forcing himself to think.

“The evidence doesn’t make any sense. It even looks like they invented some parts of the story!”

“I wouldn’t be able to think very clearly if I had to investigate something like…” I grabbed the pictures from the coffee table to prove my point. “This.”

“Akashi he was eight years old! There’s just no way he could even lift the axe that killed those people!” Taiga stated, stopping for a while to look at me. “You should take a look at him now. He’s like a living skeleton, and I was able to carry him with just one arm.”

“I would appreciate if you weren’t so defensive about it, it’s not like you to be so fed up and people around you will not accept it.” I said, but he seemed to grow angrier at it. I sighed. “I do realize what you’re saying, Taiga, and I agree with your point. Something in here is really suspicious, and I too would like to know what is it.”

His shoulders relaxed when I said that, and he looked at his bedroom door longingly.

“We should talk to him.” I said, reading his mind.

He nodded. “But he might not remember anything. As far as I know, it could all be false and they forced him to think he did it.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it were that way. Still, it would just be more obvious. An eight-year old’s mind is easy to manipulate, but an event as traumatic at that is hard to forget.”

“Mhm” Taiga said, not tearing his gaze away from the door. “I’ll go and see if he’s awake.”

The curiosity and concern won over better judgement, and he started walking to his own room like it was some place he shouldn’t get near at any cost. He entered the room and closed the door behind him hesistantly.

Some minutes after he entered, I heard soft muttering from the other side of the door. The child was awake, then. I waited patiently for both of them, Taiga was surely going to bring him to the living room to talk.

I noticed my fists tightening and I reprimanded myself for that. But it was normal, wasn’t it? Being face to face with a murderer caused this kind of reactions...

“Not every slave’s lives can be written in such a short piece of paper.” I said to myself, Mother’s words coming to my mind. “You have to get the full picture before you jump into conclusions.”

I managed to calm myself down by repeating those phrases some times, but all calm vanished when I heard screaming coming from the room Taiga had disappeared into.

“Ah! Wait!” I heard Taiga say, and I stood up from my seat in an instant. Had the slave done something to him?

But I stood still in my spot, listening for something that could tell me what was going on in there. When I heard a high pitched, terrified scream following the one before, I rushed to the door.

I stopped when my hand touched the doorknob and listened. Taiga’s voice, saying something to the slave with a soothing tone. Oh, the screaming had come from the slave, not him. I sighed in relief, and backed away from the door to go back to my spot. At least no one had been murdered, yet.

The door opened not so long after.

“I heard screaming, did something happen?” I said the instant Taiga came into view.

“Oh, sorry” he said, his back facing me. “It was an accident, my fault.”

He turned to me when he closed the door to his room, the kid was in his arms. I didn’t believe it happened, but something on my chest clenched at the sight of him.

Taiga was right, he was so thin and small that he resembled a living corpse. His hands gripped Taiga’s shirt like his life depended on it, and his eyes… His eyes were dead. Frightened, scared, without any light coming from them. He was such a defenseless creature that I regretted what I initially thought of him. Of course he didn’t seem prone to commit such a crime. He was even notoriously panicking because he didn’t know what he should do to greet me. God, it was obvious he wanted to bow as low as his head would let him because he had met my gaze for a second.

He shivered slightly, and Taiga came to the sofa in front of me to let him rest on it. He put him down slowly and carefully, and even when the child hid everything that could give him away, I realized how much pain he was in. Taiga had noticed his shivering too, and went to grab a thick blanket from his room. The slave’s gaze was cast down for the whole time Taiga was gone.

When he finished wrapping the kid on the blanket as best as he could, he sat down next to him. He kept some distance from the boy as to not put any pressure on him, but close enough for him to know that he was there.

“This is the person I told you about.” Taiga told him softly.

“I’m Akashi Seijuurou. Pleased to finally meet you” I said, trying to sound as gentle I could. The slave bowed his head.

“K-kuroko Tetsuya... m-master…” He hesitantly responded, obviously not sure on what to say.

“There’s not need to call me master, Kuroko-kun. I’m not such a person, the only one you should call that is the man next to you.” I added, and he flinched.

“I’m s-sorry, A-akashi-sama” he said, his teeth clattering from the shivering. So he wasn’t just cold, he was terrified of me. Damn, I hadn’t meant to scare him so much without even asking him what I wanted to know.

“It’s quite alright, I have no need to punish you for such an insignificant mistake.” The kid nodded, and his shoulders relaxed notoriously.

“Thank you, Akashi-sama.”

I noticed Taiga making a face out of the corner of my eye, and I sighed. Oh please don’t speak…

“Akashi, I don’t believe you should use such terms. He shouldn’t apologize because of that.” He said, voice soft but stern at the same time. The kid’s eyes widened and he drew in a sharp breath. I sighed, every step I had taken with the kid was lost.

I knew he was battling on his mind on apologizing again for another “mistake” and not doing it because it was what had caused his mistake on the first place. I was right again; it was going to be extremely difficult to erase so many slavery years out of his mind.

“Kuroko-kun, don’t worry, I accept your apologies.” I said, the kid looking in my way in surprise and relief. “As for you, Taiga, I need you to understand something.” Taiga looked at me again, his brows furrowed in anger. “Kuroko-kun has been through seven years of constant pain and suffering because of even more useless mistakes than this. What he was taught during all that time, is to do as told so he’s safe, and to never make a mistake because pain always comes after it.” I paused, and waited for Taiga’s nod to continue. “If you suddenly come one day and tell him it’s wrong for him to apologize, then you are only opening the wound even bigger than it was before. He makes a mistake, he apologizes and he might not be hurt if his master accepts the apologies. If you tell him that it’s wrong to apologize, then he adds that mistake to the one before, and ends up panicking more because there’s no way to get away from the punishment that, because of apologizing, might come out even worse than before.”

I hadn’t noticed I had been speaking so harshly, but both the slave and Taiga hid their faces by looking down at a loss of words. Taiga was in shock at my words, and his mouth gaped on a possible answer.

“I do not doubt your capacities, but you must learn to do what you are expected to by having someone under your command.”

“That’s why you panicked back then…” Taiga muttered, the slave bowing his head even lower than it was.

“I don’t want you to feel bad about it, what you do is only meant to make him feel more comfortable, I know that.” Taiga looked back at me again, my words finally sinking on his mind. “But you must know that those seven years are almost impossible to erase by just being nice to him. You have to make him comfortable with actions that he relates with safety, things he knows will not hurt him.”

“But how should I do that? We never had slaves at my home back in America, I don’t know what I should say…” I resisted the urge to laugh at the face Taiga was making. He looked like a lost puppy, regretting what he had said and done. Well, the slave’s scream had been quite a shock after all. He seemed like he wanted to apologize over and over again for scaring the poor boy.

“Could you go to the kitchen and do… something? I must first talk with Kuroko-kun before we begin, and you being here might confuse him.” Taiga obeyed without saying a word, but took a quick glance at the slave to check if he would be okay if he left for a while before he followed my order. The kitchen was just a few feet away from the living room, so he would be able to listen what I had to say, but his presence would just make the child doubt on what to say.

I went back to Kuroko-kun and waited for him to prepare for being alone with me. I always knew there was this aura around me that tended to frighten people, so I stayed silent until I knew he wouldn’t suffocate under the pressure. When I felt he was ready, I spoke.

“Kuroko-kun, is what I said before true? That you were taught to do whatever they told you so you wouldn’t be punished?” I asked, and he nodded. “Okay, that’s good.” Praising was important at all times, so it would assure him that he was doing the correct thing. “Now, I want your opinion on this. Would you feel more comfortable if you knew exactly what to do, like what I am asking right now?”

“I…” he hesitated on answering. If he didn’t just nod again, then it meant he had some trouble with it.

“It’s okay, you can speak. Remember I told you to do it.” I said with a smile. He looked up, remembering one of the main rules of every slave; when asked, always look at a master while speaking if he hadn’t said he shouldn’t.

“I would, but I’m afraid it could cause controversy on what Akashi-sama and Kagami-sama might mean…” he said, his voice lowering gradually.

“Please, explain what you mean with that.” I inquired, and I noticed he regretted speaking and didn’t want to continue, but he obeyed my orders and kept going.

“I-If, for some reason, you both ask for something different, w-what should I do in such a… situation?” “ _because you seem to be the one in charge but told me you are not”_ I read on his face. He closed his eyes when he finished, as to prepare for a hit that would sure come. I smiled again.

“I understand your concern, thank you.” He opened his eyes again and looked at me, searching for any trace of a lie on my face. He was very wary of me, but kept his stance relaxed to not let it show. He had a habit of caressing his wrists that gave him away, though. “If such a situation were to happen, the you should follow what Taiga says. He is your master and has priority over any other person. Also, I won’t be here for long, I just came to check on some things. Oh, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow other people’s orders. If your master doesn’t have any issue with it, then you must do what you’re asked to. If he has, then no harm will come to you if you refuse to follow instructions. Your master has the duty to protect you and, even more if that person is Taiga, no one will ever get to touch you.”

He looked at the kitchen, where Kagami was rummaging through some cupboards looking for things to eat.

“He would really do that?” he whispered, his voice carrying a trace of hope that seemed to brighten him.

“That and more.” I answered. “He’s the first person I’ve ever met that had the courage to put himself between a teacher and the maid he was punishing just because she had broken a glass.” I laughed at the memory, Taiga was such a weird being. “He has helped in the cafeteria ever since to make sure no one would get hurt over such a thing. He almost got expelled that time, but the director just shrugged the matter off.”

Kuroko-kun watched me intently, listening to my words with curiosity on his eyes.

“Has he done something to prove what I said? I’m sure you should have already realized by now he is one of the kindest people you will ever meet.” I told him, noticing the slight blush on Taiga’s cheeks before he turned around to face the stove. He really didn’t know how to pretend he wasn’t listening.

Kuroko-kun’s mouth was a straight line. He was considering it. Poor child, I thought, it was going to be hard to make him realize that.

“Kagami-sama is… different…”

I laughed.

“There’s no better word to describe him than that.”

The boy suddenly realized something jumped in surprise and panic. He was about to open his mouth when I realized what he was bothered about.

“It’s okay to speak out of turn, Kuroko-kun. I’m glad you do; it makes it easier to come to agreements.”

He shut his mouth almost as fast as he had opened it, nodding in understatement.

“Now, I suppose Taiga already told you why I am here, am I right?” I said, speaking slowly and softly. The matter obviously frightened him by how he tensed, and of course it would. It wasn’t easy to read it either; there was no way being accused with it for so long wouldn’t cause commotion.

Even so, Kuroko-kun nodded.

“Okay. Let me tell you that both Taiga and myself read it before, so I don’t want you to be afraid of how we might react. What you’re seeing in both of us is how we’ll act all the time.” Taiga should have told him that too, but repeating it didn’t do any harm. “Also, even when I said I have no right to give you orders, I want you to follow what I say for the time being. As you heard before, Taiga has never been in charge of another person, he has only had contact with the personal around here. I want to show him how he would make you feel more comfortable around him, and if you have any complaints you can tell me and we can sort out things together.”

“Yes, Akashi-sama. I’ll do my best to please you.” He said bowing his head in submission.

“Oh, that too.” I remembered, waiting for Kuroko-kun to look up again. “If, for any reason, you don’t feel like you can follow an order or you make a mistake, I don’t want you to be afraid of any punishment.”

His brows furrowed in confusion.

“Excuse me, Akashi-sama?” he said dumbfounded.

“Even if I said you should do everything to the letter, I want you to keep in mind that none of us is going to punish you for anything. No one wants you to go through such a thing anymore.” He seemed just as confused as before.

“You mean, you’re not going to… punish me if I make a mistake or don’t obey? I… I-I’m sorry but…”

He stopped talking, hesitating on continuing. His hands moved frantically, scratching his wrists where wounds were just starting to heal. He let his gaze somewhere to a point between me and his eyes, and it seemed he was starting to panic again. He suddenly winced, and looked at his hands, where he had just scratched too hard and blood was flowing out of the wound.

I stood up from my place, aware of Taiga’s gaze on me. I looked at him for a second, signaling that it was under control.

Kuroko-kun flinched as he saw me approaching, but stood still on his place. I crouched in front of him, grabbed his hand and looked up at him. Tears had started forming on his eyes, and he bit his lower lip viciously.

“What were you going to say?” I whispered, trying to reassure him that I wasn’t mad at him.

“I… I’m sorry, Akashi-sama, b-but…” he stuttered and shook his head. “It was impolite of me to think that, I’m sorry…”

Luckily, I had left a handkerchief on my jacket pocket when I left for a reunion some days ago. Kuroko-kun’s eyes widened when I put it on top of his bleeding wound. He tried to take his hand away, but I gave it a soft tug and it was enough for him to keep still. There were many scratches on them, but not from self-injuries; those were handcuff marks, and they had been trapping those hands for a really long time for them to be like this.

“Kuroko-kun,” I said, adding some more hardness on my tone. I wasn’t mad at him, but I needed to know what he had wanted to say. He flinched again, and lowered his gaze. “What were you going to say?”

He gulped, and I noticed his breath going faster. He looked around for a way out, but with my hand grabbing his he had nowhere to go. It made me feel bad to keep him trapped, but I really couldn’t stand any secret if he was labeled as an F. It didn’t matter if he was the one who committed the crime or not, I couldn’t let such a thing go. Nothing could be hidden if he was going to live with Taiga.

He finally gave up, and shrank into himself to prepare for anything that would come after he spoke.

“I can’t trust what you say.” He confessed, his voice forced and trembling. “I don’t believe you won’t punish me. I-I just… it’s not possible…” He started sobbing, tears starting to flow from his eyes. His hand trembled under mine, fighting it off with no avail.

What he said next made my own breath stop.

“You are just lying. No one would ever treat me like what you are saying. I… I’m just an F after all.”

Taiga appeared out of nowhere, going to the kid fast, not caring about how much Kuroko-kun backed away from him when he did, and embraced him. His arms went around him in a blink, trapping him. I stood on the floor dumbfounded, watching the scene.

Kuroko-kun sobbed and whined, nightmares and memories making him cringe in Taiga’s hold.

He looked just so… helpless. He was hopeless, not being able to trust anyone anymore. How bad were all the things that happened for him to be in this state?

Kuroko-kun was shaking, pushing Taiga’s body away from him. He trembled so bad that Taiga could just hug him tighter, the only reassuring I could think of too.

Seven years of pure suffering… I would have never believed the amount of harm it would make. It just made me realize I just lived in a parallel universe, like slaves were something apart from it. Hell, no one on their sane judgement would ever imagine something so cruel could be done to just a kid…

Just how many cases like this were out there?

A thunder was heard, and just then I realized the sound of droplets of water hitting the roof. It was raining hard, the sky becoming darker with the setting sun.

“Shh, Kuroko, it’s okay” Taiga whispered on his ear. “I know it will be hard for you to trust me, please don’t feel bad about it.”

“I-I can’t… You’ll just… Every master has…” The child complained, now clinging onto Taiga’s shirt again. “D-don’t make me believe y-you, please…”

Taiga sighed, pushing Kuroko’s head to his neck. He immediately reacted by hiding his face on Taiga’s shoulder, still sobbing.

I stood up from my place slowly, and sat in the couch by Taiga’s side. At some point the kid had climbed on top of Taiga’s legs, so he ended up being held and supported by the redhead, his own legs folded under him.

“I’m scared…”

Another wave of pain went through my chest. That voice…

Taiga looked at me with the same concern as me, his fist tightening and opening at once side of the child’s body in fury. He wanted to kill someone right now.

“Remember what I told you? It’s just a panic attack.” Taiga said with a soft voice. “It’s okay for you to be scared, but nothing bad will happen. You’ll be alright.”

The kid sobbed and shook his head.

“It’s not that…” he said, muffled by Taiga’s shirt.

“Then what is it, sweet child?”

Kuroko-kun stayed silent for some seconds, considering if he should answer or not. He tensed when he realized he could not disobey that order, and spoke when the silence was too uncomfortable for him.

“I’m… I’m afraid you make me believe you and then lie to me…”

Taiga’s took a sharp breath in, eyes widening. He grabbed the child by his shoulders, pushing him away to look at his face. Kuroko didn’t seem scared by the motion, but his eyes were red and puffy, tears flowing freely from them.

“Kuroko, I would never do something like that!” Taiga exclaimed, forgetting about how fragile the kid was at those tones of voice. Still, he didn’t look that frightened or shaken. It even looked like he was expecting a reaction like that one.

“I know that!” He said, voice breaking with a sob. “I… I already know that… that’s why I’m afraid to… I’ve…” He stopped, lowering his head once more.

“You have what, Kuroko?” Taiga inquired.

Kuroko bit his lower lip before he spoke, grabbing his wounded wrist and squeezing it.

“I’ve already started liking you.” He whispered, his cheeks reddening some shades that were almost unnoticeable. “You’ve done more for me in two days than anyone has in more than seven years… I couldn’t help myself. I started getting hopeful…”

Taiga was at a loss of words, his mouth opened and tongue moving inside it, not being able to decide on what to do. I didn’t know what to do either, there was no way I could interrupt them without Kuroko-kun panicking again.

It was Taiga’s turn now.

“Please, Kagami-sama, please don’t make me believe you…” Kuroko-kun continued. “I don’t care if you ever punish me or hurt me because I know I would deserve it so please… The image I have of you is enough already, I don’t want it to… to keep getting brighter to then shatter to pieces once I make a mistake or… or disobey you… I want to keep it like this, I like how it is right now.”

He didn’t want to lose something that he appreciated so much. That voice, that face. I knew I had heard it before. Mom had sounded just that way when father sent her away.

“Kuroko I’m sorry but I can’t” Taiga answered, squeezing the kid’s shoulders. “I can’t let you be afraid of me. I don’t want you to be; instead, I would like you to trust me, to wake up every morning knowing nothing painful is going to happen. I don’t want you to be afraid of getting hurt anymore.” He spoke harshly, furious at himself for making the kid feel that way.

Kuroko sobbed, arms falling at his sides without any force left. He seemed exhausted. Taiga noticed my concern and saw his legs trembling, his body threatening to give up his own weight.

“Come here, Kuroko. This is the only order I’ll give you, so listen carefully.” He whispered, pulling the boy’s small body to him. The child’s arms went in front of him to grab Taiga’s shirt again, and rested his head on his chest. Taiga put his own arms around him in a protective manner. “You have to trust me, no matter what anyone tells you. I’ll never ever hurt you, and you can’t be scared about getting a punishment. Never.”

“What if I do?” Kuroko-kun asked, a little calmer than before, his voice sounding extremely tired. “Will you punish me if I get scared of it?”

“Nah.” He said carelessly. ” Well, I would do something actually.” Taiga hummed, resting his head on Kuroko-kun’s. “When you are scared, you have to tell me. I’ll hold you just like this until you calm down, okay?”

Kuroko-kun nodded, his shoulders relaxed and head dropped.

“Taiga, is it okay if we discuss _that_ matter now or should I leave?” I asked, feeling I was out of place in the room.

Taiga looked at Kuroko-kun, considering to ask or not. Well, I couldn’t blame him if he didn’t want to talk right now; two panic attacks in a day sounded exhausting. Still, it wasn’t Taiga who answered me, it was the kid in his arms instead.

“I want you to know.” He said, probably referring to Taiga more than me. “I want to tell you the little I remember about it.”

“Are you sure? You can go to sleep if you want, you look really tired.”

Kuroko-kun nodded, taking his head away from Taiga’s chest to look at him. “But I… I’ll probably… get scared again, master…” He blushed again at the smile Taiga had when he said it.

“It’s alright. I wasn’t planning on letting you go any soon.”

For the love of-- it had been merely two days! It was admirable how they got so close in such a short time, but scary too. At least the child wouldn’t panic so much now that Taiga was with him and the redhead would get a little bit more responsible. It was going to be good for both of them, if they didn’t kill each other in a week.

“Ok, we’ll try going easy.” I said, going to the other sofa and grabbing the files on the way. “If you feel you can’t go on anymore, don’t hesitate to speak up, ok?”

“Yes, Akashi-sama.” Kuroko-kun answered, moving to be in a position in which he could look at me still sitting on top of Taiga’s legs.

“Then, first things first. What do you remember about that night?”

Kuroko-kun inhaled and exhaled twice before responding. I thought of getting a piece of paper or something to write what he said, but I figured it would just make him feel uncomfortable.

“It’s not much, actually.” He started, hands clenching on his lap. “I remember getting home from school and going to the kitchen. The oven was on, so I went upstairs to change my clothes before we ate, like always.” He paused and bit his lower lip, looking troubled to remember more. “I suppose I went to the kitchen again to eat, but I don’t remember seeing my parents there. I…”

A thunder rang through the night sky, startling the child. He gripped Kagami’s shirt again.

“Sorry, there’s nothing more than that. It becomes blurry when I try to remember it.”

“It’s alright. Was there any thought you may have had when you went home? Were you mad at your parents?” I asked, trying to go into the subject as gently as I could. Hell, it was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done.

“N-no, no that I can remember. It just seemed weird to me that they weren’t there.” Kuroko-kun said, deep in thought. “After what I told you, the next thing I remember was that I was cuffed at the back of a police car.”

“Cuffed?” Taiga asked, interrupting him. “They got you out and cuffed you? Without even asking you what had happened?”

“Yes, Kagami-sama.” Kuroko-kun answered. “No one really asked me about… _it._ From the beginning they treated me like the culprit. Nobody even questioned me at the police station, they just sent me to the wards after it. I wasn’t even there when the jury stated my sentence.”

He bit his lip once more, his hand now gripped his wounded wrist and squeezed it. It seemed he was ready to ask the only question that mattered.

“Kuroko-kun, were you the one that murdered your parents?”

Silence. Cold, creepy silence. The three of us held our breath, just hearing the faint sound of a clock ticking in some other room.

“I don’t know.”

Tears started running on Kuroko-kun’s face again, his gaze lost in the distance. He was paralyzed in place, Taiga didn’t even want to touch him, afraid of frightening him.

“Everyone told me I was the one who killed them, but I can’t… I can’t believe it.” Kuroko-kun said, finally escaping from his trance. “I have no evidence either that I didn’t do it, and even the only bit I get to remember from that day is that I held the knife that ended their lives, and my hands covered in blood.”

“Hey, Kuroko” Taiga said, noticing how the kid had started trembling on his hold. He pulled him again, wrapping him with his warmth. “You’re alright, it’s okay. Focus on my heartbeat, you are not there anymore.”

I, at the same time, was wrapping my head over the thing Kuroko-kun had just said. Something he had mentioned didn’t fit anything we had read. Had he just… forgotten it? No, it was not possible. Something like that was impossible to forget.

“Kuroko-kun, are you sure they didn’t take your statement?” I asked, still not able to get a grip on that clue.

“Hey Akashi, leave it. He’s not ready to answer anymore.” Taiga answered for him; protectiveness on its peak.

But Kuroko-kun shook his head, taking a deep breath once more. “I’m fine, Kagami-sama. And, no, Akashi-sama, they didn’t. They all looked at me warily, even the police. Nobody wanted to get close and talk.” He suddenly jumped, remembering something. But he wasn’t excited about remembering it, he just seemed to grow even more scared. “Wait, they did. Many times, actually.”

“When?”

Kuroko-kun shuddered, now scratching his wrists anxiously. Taiga saw it, and put his own hands on top of them, forcing him to stop hurting himself.

“They hit me because of it. They asked me if I had done it, and hit me after it.” A punishment. They didn’t take his statement, they just punished him for it.

“What did you answer?” I asked slowly, grasping the only possibility I had left.

“I said I didn’t. That I hadn’t done it, and they hit me until I said I had.” Another thunder made Kuroko-kun turn around and hide his face on Taiga’s shirt, too lost on the memories to notice he wasn’t being punished anymore.

If the sound scared him, then it meant… They had whipped him over and over again.

“You started to believe you had, after all those punishments.”

Kuroko-kun nodded, his face still buried on Taiga’s shirt. “Even if I said “yes” the first time they would hit me anyways.”

“Okay, that’s it.” Taiga said, finishing the conversation for once. “Nothing else, we are done here. I don’t want you to talk about it anymore. It isn’t much, but you look too tired to keep talking. We can discuss it some other time.”

Kuroko-kun stood silent, breathing evenly and shoulders starting to drop. He was falling asleep.

“I should leave now, Taiga” I said, standing up from the seat. Kuroko-kun stirred a bit, fighting his closing eyes.

“Ah, okay.” Taiga said, looking at me.

Had he even realized what was wrong with what Kuroko-kun had said? It didn’t look like it, but he had seemed so surprised when he saw it the first time?

Kuroko-kun tried muttering an apology, but failed miserably and I could just catch some syllables that made no sense. I thought of answering back, but a soft and even breathing told me he was already asleep. “He’s exhausted.”

“Being afraid makes him aware of every single movement around him. That and how bad he was treated are most likely the causes why he is so tired.” Taiga stood up slowly, cradling the boy on his arms. Kuroko-kun moved closer to Taiga’s body, his frail hands loosely grabbing his shirt. “They wanted him to drown yesterday.”

“Hm. Well, tell me when you’re free any other time, I really want to know what is wrong with his case, and everything we gathered now was his statement on it.”

“But you did notice, didn’t you?” Taiga asked, and I nodded.

“I thought you hadn’t, but it is just added to the list of evidence that proves he didn’t do it.” I answered back. “I think they forced him to think he did it. After all, the only ones that knew that the real murder weapon was that axe were the police and the masters who bought him, not the usual punishers at the wards. Also, the wounds on his parent’s body were obviously made by a much larger weapon than a knife, as Kuroko-kun said he remembered.”

“He didn’t even see the wounds. But why would they imprison him without taking his statement?”

“I have no idea. We have to figure that out, too.”

I fixed my clothes and walked to the door. Taiga followed me to the entrance.

Even when I wasn’t satisfied with the answers I got, I had to go and check on my own problems now; who knows what the hell had that brat done while I was gone.

The rain fell hard upon the roof. A rolling roar thundered on the night sky, adding the loud sound to the wind moving the tree branches outside.

Suddenly, a noise coming from my pocket made me stop in my tracks, reaching out for the phone in it. I opened the mail that was sent to me, and I smirked.

“What is it? What does it say?” Asked Taiga, turning around me to read too.

“You should have received it too, it’s from the director.” I said, putting the artifact away.

“Nijimura? What does he want now?”

“He wanted us to meet him tomorrow, at the dining room on the administrative building.”

“He wanted to have dinner with us?” Taiga asked again, sighing in exasperation. He hated those meetings. “For what?”

“He wants to see what we bought. We have to take them too.” I answered, turning my back to him. “It seems he wants to meet them, too.”


	12. Friend or Foe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I luv fluff. Cheers for fluff. :3  
> Cheers for the semes realizing they are helplessly falling for the boys.

**Akashi’s POV**

Something felt wrong. Something was really wrong. And not just because of what I had just experienced with Taiga’s slave, but there was this feeling in my gut that wouldn’t leave me alone. The closer I got to my own room, it became worse.

The moment I left Taiga’s dorm, I realized I had left the brat alone for too long, and it made me shiver. Had he done something while I was gone? I didn’t hear any sirens, and my room was just on the other side of the house I shared with all the other guys, so at least he hadn’t burned the place down.

As I opened my door, I knew something bad had happened, and immediately took the keys for one of the cars parked downstairs. The place was just like I had left it. No dirty plates on the kitchen, no cushions out of place, the TV was off and the door to the main room was closed.

Kouki hadn’t gone through that door yet.

I marched to the mentioned room, my fists tightening at the only possible outcome I could think of.

I opened the door all the way, and sighed. The kid was gone.

“That brat…”

The window was open, a curtain waving outside the room, getting wet under the rain. The bed wasn’t done and the clothes I had left were nowhere to be seen.

Yep, he had escaped, and he couldn’t have chosen a worse day to do so. Tonight, and only tonight for the upcoming two weeks, a storm was falling on top of us. If he was not dead yet, I had to find him fast, or he was going to die from cold.

I bolted out of the room, grabbing some towels that I had left on a chair and running downstairs with the keys in hand. To my bad luck, when I kicked the front doors open, I found myself face to face with a soaked Daiki and a blonde guy behind him. From the way the blond looked at me and then adverted his gaze to the floor, I realized he was Daiki’s slave.

“The hell are you doing, Akashi?” Daiki exclaimed, putting his own keys on his pocket. “What are you doing at this hour?”

I sighed. Dammit, I wasn’t expecting to encounter one of them while I fetched the sneaky brat.

“I could ask the same thing, Daiki. You do know taking out slaves without the director’s authorization is not allowed, right?” I said, keeping my tone as stoic as possible to not show the hurry I was in. “It’s not you I’m worried about; detention doesn’t seem to be a problem. But the blond behind you, he could get in much bigger trouble.”

The slave behind Daiki flinched, eyes widening at my words. Daiki, realizing this, threw me a dirty glare for scaring him.

“I won’t go around spreading the word that the powerful and almighty heir to the Akashi family let his slave escape if you don’t talk.” Crap, right in the truth.

I sighed, Daiki could really stand out if he tried.

“Deal.” I said, and he moved out of the way to let me get to the cars.

“Make sure you don’t kill the poor bastard afterwards!” Daiki shouted from the front door and went inside the house.

Oh no, the kid was not going to have such a peaceful punishment as death. I still needed him to pass the year anyways.

 

**Furihata’s POV**

 

To my sides, the branches cracked as they stretched, suddenly intertwining with one another to make a sealed wall, the sound so loud that for a moment I thought I would end up deaf. The iced rain hit my face violently, like bitter knives cutting through my skin and inside my eyes, making it hard to see as I maneuvered through the uneven ground.

Another flash of light brightened my surroundings for a split second, making everything look silver and white before it turned black again, followed by the massive cry of yet another thunder. My heart drummed loudly inside my chest, senses sharp, looking rapidly from side to side, ready to make an unexpected turn whenever a branch suddenly blocked my path.

My head was spinning. I was gasping for breath, not knowing if what filled my lungs was air or water anymore. I couldn’t stabilize myself, and my awareness was starting to fade. I knew I was tired, but couldn’t stop moving.

I was wet, cold and physically exhausted, feeling I would pass out at any moment.

Keep running… Don’t stop, they’ll catch you.

How long had I been running? I thought for the umpteenth time, trying to make a guess of how much time ago the sun had disappeared behind the clouds. I had left at eleven in the morning, so ten hours seemed to be a good amount.

But the forest wasn’t stopping, and with the rain and thunder, my senses stopped working. I didn’t know if I was running in circles or towards the exit, but at some point I had started going up. I was climbing a hill or something, and no cars could be heard. Hell, I didn’t even know if I was running anymore. Step after step, my feet moved, but they were not going as fast as I would have wanted.

My foot suddenly hit a root, and given the little force I had to support my body, my face went crashing to the ground. I tried getting up with a grunt, but staying there on the ground was so… tempting. I closed my eyes for some seconds, cherishing the relief it gave to my exhausted body.

Maybe if I rested for a while… The house was really far away now, right? It wouldn’t hurt sleeping for an hour or so…

No! I have to get up! There’s no time to rest, they’ll catch me!

I put my hands in front of me, pushing me away from the ground. When I managed to stand with the support of a nearby tree, I tried taking a step ahead. But, as I stood on my right leg, it gave away my weight and I fell again.

What the hell? I thought, crawling towards the trunk of a tree so I could check what had happened. I rested my back on it, getting some shelter of the unforgiving rain thanks to its leaves. Please, don’t let it be a broken bone, don’t be a broken bone! It might sound as if I am exaggerating, but adding the cold and fear I felt for the unknown injury, it probably hurt ten times more. I slowly took away the fabric covering my legs (that used to be a pair of comfy pants at the beginning of my journey) and looked at the wound.

There was a deep gash right below my knee. A stick must have made that when I fell. It didn’t look very dangerous, but it was bleeding a fair amount of red liquid. I wouldn’t be able to walk anymore until it stopped.

“Crap!” I exclaimed, punching the ground with fury. I was currently gasping from the effort I had made, and I knew that even without that wound, I wouldn’t have been able to walk much more. But it was so goddamn cold out here! The rain didn’t look like it was going to stop any soon, and at this rate my shivering would be dangerous.

The coldness on my body was terrifying. My mind, along with most of my limbs had gone limp. I couldn’t feel them anymore.

A thunder exploded in the distance, and my flinch was enough to make me realize something bad. I was scared because I knew the slavery thing had turned even worse than before. No one was going to save me now, and I was going to die here, in the cold.

Hypothermia. I was going to die of hypothermia, and nothing was going to stop it from freezing my bones and blood.

I sighed, feeling my eyelids closing. “I don’t want to die…” I murmured, feeling warm tears falling from my eyes to join the droplets of rain on my face. “I don’t want to die!”

I tried propping myself on my arms again, doing my best to get up. But it was a useless effort; my arms trembled so much that I couldn’t do any force with them, and fell back to the wet ground.

“So that’s it?” I thought. Such a short life, huh? And to think my acceptance letter had arrived that same day when they caught me… “It was predestined. I got advances from the beginning, having no money at all. I was never going to have a life…”

Consciousness was beginning to slip away, and I prepared myself to welcome my own death.

My thoughts were quickly drawn into a different path as I suddenly heard something else move some distance to my left. My heart jumped inside my chest, eyes frantically looking through the forest. I could see nothing but darkness behind the tree trucks. Fear started to boil inside of me, merging with the strange feeling rushing through my veins.

But what for? I was going to die anyways. But yeah, my dead body was going to be food for a mountain lion. Perfect.

“Feast upon my corpse, bastards, and may Satan have your goddamn souls.” I thought, my eyes finally closing.

And just like that, Furihata Kouki was gone.

 

**Akashi’s POV**

When I turned the car on, I grabbed my phone from my jacket and opened the tracker app on it. So Kouki could think he could escape, huh? Well, I thought when a moving red dot appeared on the map, he still hadn’t found the chip I hid behind his ear while he was asleep.

But Kouki had run quite a long way from the mansion, he was at the foot of the mountains we used for training on long weekends with the other guys. I drove through the main road, the rain falling on the car and making it difficult to see ahead. But I managed to reach the path to the mountain easily.

I looked at the device again, checking the distance between me and the kid. To my already altered self, the dot had stopped moving. That made the matter even more serious than before. I would reach where he was in some minutes.

As I was approaching, a thunder lightened the sky, followed by a roar that was heard even through the noise the car made. It was a really bad storm; Kouki must have been terrified when his chances of escaping were reduced to cero due to the bad weather. He hadn’t eaten something in the whole day either.

To my mind came the image of Kuroko-kun, broken and trembling on Taiga’s embrace. I tried shaking it off, but this kid… even if he wasn’t on the F wards, or his crime couldn’t be compared to the teal haired boy, he was still a slave. A slave who suffered, a human who could feel pain and cold and… I had to find the brat.

I finally got close enough to the spot my phone showed and put the heater to the max. Opening the door of the car and taking two steps towards the forest was enough to soak me completely. But I didn’t stop to reconsider my movements, the kid came first now.

With the phone on my hand, I ran towards the red spot, feeling my heart beating faster when my eyes fell on the small figure of Kouki on the ground. When I got closer, I noticed his eyes were closed and his body shook terribly. It was cold as ice when I reached down to check on him. But never mind that, he was alive.

Putting the phone back in my pocket, I lifted the kid up, frowning at the lack of weight of his body. He really needed to eat something when we got back.

I managed to reach the car without tripping on anything, and put Kouki on the passenger’s seat, directing all the heaters towards him. His wet clothes only lowered his body temperature, so I took what was left of them off, not really caring to stop and think. It was seeing him naked or letting him die. Still, I did what I could to wrap him inside the towels I had brought, managing to dry him a bit.

I believed it was enough, and quickly made my way to the driver’s seat. The faster we got home, the better.

I really don’t know how, but it took less than ten minutes to go back to the dorms. Had I speeded that much? Just because of a slave?

I shook my head. You just don’t want him dead, that’s only natural.

I started doubting that while I ran to my room with Kouki in my arms, feeling nervous at the frightening color his skin had. The car was enough for his temperature to regain normal numbers, but he still shook terribly. He was breathing heavily, and his face was flushed red. A fever?

A fever, I concluded when I finally put him into bed. So he was not only cold, but sick too.

Well, he was not dead. That’s good.

I went to my wardrobe and grabbed something to sleep in, feeling exhausted. My hands trembled when I fetched them, and I realized that I was soaking wet too. I took off the wet clothes in a hurry and put the dry ones right away. How couldn’t I notice that?

I sighed. It’s this guy’s fault! But how come someone as simple as him could make me feel so shaken?! The goddamn brat had ran away thinking he was going to be able to escape from _me_! What made him think I wouldn’t catch him before he died in the forest?

Is it his attitude, the way he behaves? I looked at his face, feeling a sudden anger rising just by remembering the show he had made back at the slave house. That was what had caught my attention in the first place, but it also made me want to make him submit by force under my feet!

Not so scary now, huh? I thought, observing his expression. But, as I took in the straight line his mouth formed, the way his eyes closed with force, his furrowed brows, the traces of tears on his cheeks… the anger vanished. He looked just like… just like Kuroko-kun’s face after that panic attack. Scared, disturbed.

Broken.

“So even the bravest have their own weak spots, huh?” I murmured, trying to shove that idea away. Just a slave, he was just a slave.

_A slave who was just doing his best to escape the suffering and pain of slavery._

But maybe it’s his face, maybe he just uses this expression to control me. I don’t know what I wanted to prove with it, but I felt the sudden urge to poke his check with my finger. It was hollow and cold. REALLY cold.

I sighed again, knowing there was no way I would let such a thing go.

“What have you done with your life, Seijuuro.” I told myself while pulling the sheets on Kouki’s side so I could lie next to him, and to share a bit of warmth so he wouldn’t freeze during the night. I moved as close as I could to him, still keeping some distance so he wouldn’t bother me in my sleep. But, as if he had sensed the closeness, he moved even closer to me, pressing his nakedness to me. I felt myself flushing when his face hid on my chest, uncaring of who I was or how much authority I had over him.

But he wouldn’t let go of me, not even when I pushed him away. He always came back. So when I heard a whimper coming from him at a particularly hard kick I gave him, I gave up. His face nuzzled on the space under my neck when he got no resistance coming from me. His hair brushed my face, tickling it with every movement. It finally looked like he had calmed down when I stretched my arm to turn off the light on the nightstand, and closed my eyes.

But with Kouki there, I couldn’t find a comfortable position! My arms moved everywhere for a nice spot, but couldn’t find any. I finally opted for putting them around the slave’s body, feeling really embarrassed at the sudden skin to skin contact my hands experienced. I wanted to slap myself at that, but I couldn’t move.

Surprisingly, I didn’t feel like moving anyways. It turns out the way we ended up lying was quite a comfortable way. His hair was on my face, but it was soft and smelled good. He had taken a shower before leaving huh?

No, Seijuuro, stop. Just a slave, he’s just a goddamn object for you to use.

I felt Kouki moving next to me, whimpering, like he sensed my worries. Funny; they vanished the moment his hands gripped my shirt with even more force than before.

I sighed for the last time, my mouth curved in a small smile while my eyes began to close too.

“What have I gotten myself into…”

 

**Takao’s POV**

When I woke up again, my body was on fire. My back hurt and my chest felt like someone had been sitting on and crushing my lungs. I sat up quickly, hissing at the stabbing pain I felt on my back. I gripped the bed sheets and pressed my top and bottom lips together tightly. I didn’t know how to feel, or rather what to do. My mind was numb and devoid of any rational thought and I felt… lifeless.

What only mattered now was the pain. The pain that was always there, waiting for another day somebody would think I needed some punishment.

Would it be better if I just laid down back on the bed and pretend I was still asleep? No, such nice and comfortable sheets would be dirtied with all the blood. Dirty, dirty, dirty. I needed a shower, a bath. Yeah… a bath.

But wait. I stopped myself when I passed my gaze around the room I was in. This was not my room. It was bigger, much bigger. Where am I?

Oh, the green haired man that bought me. Right, it was his room, and he was… Where was he?

I sat up in bed, minding all my movements so I wouldn’t hurt too much. Well, on a scale from one to ten, seven being the usual, I felt a nine. It wasn’t that bad, right? I ran a hand through my hair and sighed, my mind wouldn’t let me go back to sleep if I didn’t know where he was, even if the pain was too much. I rubbed my temples, carefully swinging my legs out of the bed.

I took a deep breath and stood on them, wincing at the ache and grabbing the bed for support while the room stopped spinning around me. God, it hurt so much…

It’s okay, I thought when everything went static again. The pain is only temporal. Once the wounds heal, I’ll be fine.

Well, only if they get to heal someday anyways.

I got up slowly, not making a peep as my body moved on its own accord. A few steps towards the door were enough to leave me panting and gasping for breath. This really wasn’t my forte, but I had to keep going, the door was just some feet away.

Catching the doorknob with both hands was as satisfactory as having such good sleep. However, when I looked over the room, I saw Midorima-sama sitting on a couch opposite to the door, looking at me. I flinched at his intent stare, but stood still on place.

“Are you sure you can be up in the state you are in?” Was the first thing he asked. He didn’t seem mad at me being up, at least.

“I… not really.” I answered, the stretching feeling on my back making me uncomfortable.

Midorima-sama sighed and got up from his seat, walking to me with fast steps. “Come on, let me help you get to the kitchen.” He said, offering his arm to me.

But the sudden invitation wasn’t what I expected, and my mind decided to make it look as if he was going for my neck, like he was going to squeeze it and cut off my only oxygen source… The hand stopped inches away, and I noticed I had begun to lower myself on the floor, flinching away from the threat. I blinked once, twice, and only when I met Midorima-sama’s eyes again I realized he hadn’t tried to hurt me, and his words finally sank in my mind.

“I can walk” I said, shrugging the matter off, hoping he would let my reaction go. No flinching away, Kazunari, he will only get mad at you.

Midorima-sama just eyed me warily before he nodded and started walking again, something I translated as a sign to follow. On silent feet, I fell into step just slightly behind my master, unsure as to what was going on. It had been a short period of time, but I wasn’t quite sure what my role was in this new household. Sure, I had never had any master before, but they had always told me how to behave if someone bought me. I was going to have to carefully watch Midorima-sama to discover what the man wanted of me. Never before had anyone failed to tell me my role, yet this one seemed to do everything differently than I had been taught.

Who would ever think a master would tend my wounds so gently and let me lie in a _real_ bed? Until now, the only pain I had felt were caused by the ones inflicted by that psycho at the slave house; the remnants of the knife and the healing.

When we emerged from the living room, I found a table already set, full of food. There were two women there. Maidens, judging from the clothing. Did this man have more slaves than me?

One of the maids, the younger one, was currently putting the food the older maid was cooking on the kitchen. When they saw me, they both smiled at me. I nodded back, not sure if the same gesture would be approved by my master.

There were two sets of plates on the table and I wondered where the other guest was at. I had yet to see anyone else in this place, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t there. I gave a quick look around me and found no other people hiding in the room. I’d become an expert at taking my surroundings. Knowing what and who was in the room was a skill that came in handy many times in my life. Secure in the knowledge that he knew who was here and why they were, I focused my attention on the man in front of me once more.

But, unable to let my mind shut up, my thoughts returned to where they’d been before. My master was proving to be a very different person to anyone that I had served so far. He hadn’t yelled at me since I’d been brought here, and no knife or whip was taken out for punishment. Last night I’d been given that speech about not hurting me anymore that had left a weird feeling of fear in my stomach. Yet, after that, he had slid nicely into the role of master. While treating me in an almost special way, he’s also maintained this air of command and control, like knowing I was only here to serve. He’d been kind enough to let me sleep in bed, and had taken care of every injury. Then, this morning, I had appeared wearing clothes a tad too big for me, but clothes anyways! Yet, there had clearly been an order to keep them on, right?

It was almost too good to be true. I had met varying types of master’s over the years, everyone punishing me for this or this other reason. I had experience with many different kinds. Yet Midorima-sama was acting in a way that almost made me hopeful.

Yeah, I trusted him, he was different after all. But I tried to push that feeling down and away; it was too early to begin to make judgments, and carrying that kind of hope could only lead to being hurt.

Yet I couldn’t help it. Midorima-sama was acting like the kind of master most slaves secretly longed to have. Kind, yet strong. Gentle, yet firm. Caring, yet dominating. Every slave hoped in their hearts to find a Master that they could end up proudly serving. One that maybe they could love a little. At least, that was what they dreamed of once they gave up the notion of ever being free. It was impossible to leave after all, even after the time of the sentences had already passed. They always found a way to put us back into the system, or kill us.

Some still held on to that in the early days. I had held on to that for quite a long time, hoping they would realize the voices didn’t do anything to affect my judgement. I wasn’t driven by them; they were just _there_.

But before my training was done, I knew the truth. I discovered just how doomed I really was. This was my life now. Hoping for more was foolish. All I could hope for was to find a master that I might actually be able to like.

I pushed those useless thoughts out of my head. It was far, far too soon to even think about things like that. I had more important things to do right now. Like learn about my master. Midorima-sama hadn’t told me what my role in the household was, which meant that I needed to observe and learn what it would be. I wasn’t adept at playing many different roles, I didn’t even know if I could be useful as a household slave. I was the one who did all the chores back home, and I knew how to cook and clean. But, was he going to need that? Now I was going to study and see how breakfast would go. Were there other slaves that would appear now? How did he want me to act during meals? Did he expect to be served? Does he want me silent and out of the way? It was always best to stay on the side of formality. It was better to be told to step back than have to be told to serve.

When we reached the table, I stood back and to the side as master took a seat. Just as I was about to move by his chair and prepare to serve him coffee or something I noticed Master already had everything in front of him, so I kneeled in the floor next to him, waiting for orders. What else could I do if it was all there?

I felt a pair of eyes on me and I flinched, looking up. The green-hair looked down at me and made a gesture to the empty chair beside him. “Why are you there? Why don’t you come sit at the table? You have to eat.”

Wait…what? Join him? At the _table_? The words had been phrased as a question yet I instinctively wanted to respond to him as if they were an order. Still, I was unsure. Was this some kind of test? Some trick? I slanted a quick look to the maidens and then looked back to him. “Master?”

“Not master, Midorima Shintarou. Now sit.” Midorima-sama’s words were soft and firm and I responded to them automatically. I quickly slipped down into the chair at my master’s side. It felt so very wrong to be sitting here with him yet I couldn’t disobey a direct order. At the same time, I couldn’t stop my stomach from clenching slightly or my body from bracing in preparation of a blow I was sure was coming. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten at the table like a regular person instead of standing against the wall or kneeling beside a chair while my betters ate.

Midorima-sama’s hand reached over, patting my shoulder, warm and strong. “It’s going to be okay, Takao.” That thick voice carried a reassuring note that warmed my insides just slightly. “I want you up at the table with me. And you have to eat, too. You are at least a good ten or fifteen pounds underweight and you need the food. Just sit here with me and eat your breakfast.”

“Are you sure I shouldn’t go with them?” I asked, feeling confused at the request. He had more slaves right? Shouldn’t I fall into the same place as them?

However, Midorima-sama chuckled, cup of coffee in hand. “These are Mary-san and Jean-san, they made this food for us. And no, you don’t have to go with them, they have their own routines, we can’t mess with that. By the way, Jean-san,” he called, directing his attention to the maids. “You don’t have to worry about the dirty plates, I can wash them later. You can leave now.”

“Okay, Midorima-sama” the young maid, Mary-san said with a smile. “We’ll be leaving now, please enjoy your breakfast.”

“Oh, and boy. You’re safe here, sweetie. No one’s going to hurt you.” The white-haired woman— Jean-san —told me. Her voice was sweet and gentle, pitched low to be as reassuring as could be. I slanted her a cautious look before dropping my eyes back down to my lap.

I heard them both walking away, and a door closed. They were gone. The only familiar looking people left me alone with my master.

This whole thing seemed surreal. Thinking about it left me scared and nervous and just a little sick. I knew that if I kept thinking, I would start to shake a little and I might be sick.

_Be quiet._

_No, act, you have to do something._

_What if he slaps you when you grab something?_

_He’s tempting you with all that food._

_But the maid said it was okay, right?_

I’ll keep trusting him, it will be alright, I thought, pushing it all back into a far corner of my mind to think about later. For now, I would just do what I was told and that was that. I would follow orders and serve as my master saw fit. He had helped me after all, I had to pay back what he had done for me. Who was I to question those orders, no matter what they were? Training kicked in and I tucked who I was into that little corner of my mind and let the slave come forth. It was safer that way.

The man started serving food onto my plate and I battled back my discomfort. It was one thing to have another slave serve food; that was normal. But to be the only slave in the room while master served the food? It went against everything I knew. But I kept quiet about it. It was not my place to say anything. Then Midorima-sama started to put food onto his plate and my distress grew.

_You have to serve him._

My hand suddenly went off my lap and reached up to stop Midorima-sama before he could put the food down.

While that was happening, master turned his attention to me, obviously concerned with my action. “Do you have any food allergies, Takao? Anything that I should worry about that they didn’t list in your file? I don’t want you eating something that’s going to make you sick.”

“No, master.”

“Midorima Shintarou.” He repeated with some annoyance in his tone.

“No, Midorima-sama.”

With a nod, he turned his attention back to the food, ignoring the hand I had slowly began to retreat. He continued serving himself. As he did, he spoke clearly and calmly, his tone leaving no room for argument. “Like I told you, you are underweight, and it isn’t healthy. So we’re going to put you on a proper diet to get your weight up where you need to be. But if your body starts to get full before you are done, you stop eating and tell me.” In those last words was a hint of command and his eyes moved up to my face to make sure I understood. “Now speak, it feels weird to have you here without saying anything.”

“I… what should I say?” I asked while eyeing the amount of food he put on my plate. There were colorful fruits on one side, bread in the other, ham and cheese on top. But the plate was _big_ , so I understood what he meant by getting full.

“Well, there must be something you want to ask. Even _I_ still find confusing having you home.” Midorima-sama said, taking a bite of his toast.

“Uhm, then…” nothing came to my mind right now, so I just asked something casual. “How was your night?”

Midorima-sama choked on his food and looked at me like I was stupid. Ups, wrong question. “I slept fine.” He said, instead of punishing me. “Although I will take back my bed once you are healed. I prefer that over the couch.”

It was my turn to choke now. “You slept on the couch? Wait, it was _your_ bed?!” Okay, that was wrong, really wrong. Not even I made master sleep on the couch, but also used his own bed. Crap I was doomed. “I-I’m sorry, I can sleep on the couch tonight, o-or the floor. Wherever actually, I…”

“Hey, hey” he said, shushing me. “It’s okay, there’s no way I’m letting you sleep anywhere else that the bed until all your wounds have closed.” He paused, probably noting the way my shoulders had tensed. He kept talking though, is voice becoming louder with every word he said.  “And you’ll still sleep on a bed afterwards, idiot. The bed I ordered for you hasn’t arrived yet, that’s why I slept on the couch!”

“Oh, sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, I’m not mad!” he claimed, too exasperated for me to believe him.

“You look mad.” I said, realizing I was staring at him. However, instead of shouting at me or anything for speaking out of place, he looked away, his cheeks and ears turning pink. I felt the urge to smile, and I smiled, he wasn’t mad at all.

“Forget that and keep asking. But please omit such useless comments…” He was blushing really bad now. Even when the voices were all different and usually battled for the choices I made, they were all forcing me to keep going and test how long I would last without a punishment.

“You read my files” I said next, remembering the comment he made about the allergies. “But you said you already had an idea of what to expect. Did Midorima-sama know what I did _before_ buying me?”

“Yes.” Came the answer almost immediately. I really wasn’t expecting such a direct response. “What I don’t know is why you did it. They didn’t take your statement when they imprisoned you.”

“Nah, they thought I was crazy, why bother?” I carelessly said, swinging the fork I was holding in my hand.  I suddenly realized the tone I was using and cringed, not liking the frown on Midorima-sama’s face. “Sorry, it was inappropriate for me to say it in that tone.”

“No, it’s alright. I actually liked that tone, it feels less robotic.” Midorima-sama said, and I relaxed once more. “What surprised me was what you actually said.”

“That they thought I am crazy?” I waited for my master’s nod to continue. “Well, you must know that I was diagnosed with Schizophrenia when they captured me, so they didn’t ask me anything and put me in a cell right away.”

It was Midorima-sama’s turn to ask now. “Do you have Schizophrenia?”

I shuddered at it. “Well, yeah. It’s not as bad as voices telling me to kill people or seeing shadows everywhere that claim to be my friends. I don’t hurt myself either, it isn’t like the movies try to show. There are many types.” I had investigated everything that had to do with my disorder, knowing it wasn’t normal. Midorima-sama nodded slowly, wanting me to continue. “I do hear voices, but they just… voice out my options. Like, for example, there’s a chance of taking this cup and drinking and not taking it. Some of them tell me it’s okay to take it, while the others range from the dangers of taking the cup and absolutely not doing it because I might get poisoned with whatever its contents are.”

Master seemed to understand. “So it’s just your conscious speaking to you?”

“Yup. It’s not up to them what voice I follow, tough.” I replied, mentally patting myself on the shoulder at how I explained it without sounding too crazy. “Oh, and I also happen to have ADHD so the voices get very imaginative sometimes.”

Midorima-sama nodded once more, frowning at the last comment but not commenting on it. Instead he went back to what he wanted to ask before.

“So, did this Schizophrenia thing have to do with you committing your crime?” He spoke very slowly, like wanting me to take the blow as softly as I could.

There was no way I couldn’t remember such a thing calmly. My fists tightened in my lap.

“No. Well yes, but not really…” I sighed, taking a deep breath to calm myself down. “As I said, my choices get repeated over and over in my head, some thoughts also linger for days in there. When the time came, one of the choices was to defend myself, and I did.”

There was a short silence before Midorima-sama spoke again.

“Defend yourself?”

“Dad happened to like me like, _very much._ ” Abnormally much. “And I wasn’t able to stop him before it started getting dangerous.” The last part was barely a whisper.

“He hurt you.”

_Don’t keep talking._

I nodded, looking at the fruit I was moving around the plate with my fork. “Some scars were really bad. I even had to go to the ER for internal damage, twice.” I gulped, shuddering at the memory. “I tried telling someone but, because of the Schizophrenia, nobody believed me. He was… he was going to kill me…”

_Shut up! Stop remembering!_

“Takao.”

_SHUT UP!_

“But I couldn’t do anything else! He had his hands on my neck, on the kitchen table! And he wouldn’t let go… I-it… it took almost five swings for his grip to lessen and I… I was afraid he would s-stand up a-again and… kept…”

“Takao!”

I gasped, snapping my head up, seeking the owner of the voice. I managed to catch a glimpse of green, but I couldn’t hold my stare steady. Everything was blurry, and I felt too light. I tried reaching my hand out, trying to grasp… anything. I couldn’t breathe, I felt like drowning, and the only one who could save me was nowhere to be seen. I could hear a faint voice in the distance, but when I tried going towards it, I fell.

With the pain, everything came back. I was on the floor, looking up at Midorima-sama from below. His mouth was moving, but my hearing hadn’t come back yet. Still, he seemed desperate, and the only thing I could do was to stare at his eyes, trying to calm down.

I remembered I had to breath, and slowly tried doing so. Midorima-sama looked sad. What was going on?

My hearing came back not long after, the volume slowly going up until I heard Midorima-sama shouting my name repeatedly.

I looked at him, confusion flooding my mind. “D-did I...?”

Midorima-sama sighed, gladness overflowing his face.

“I lost you for a while.” He finished for me, throwing his head back and taking a deep breath. “You were not breathing and fainted.”

I smiled at the worry he showed. “Seems that, even though the voices never shut up, they forget to remind me of doing important things. Oh, that’s another failure to put on the list.”

Midorima-sama let out a nervous laugh. “Guess you are not getting near the stove, then. I don’t feel like coming back home and find it burned to ashes because they _forgot_ to remind you to turn it off.”

“Hey! My own memory is not that bad!” I told him back, enjoying the lightness I still felt.

“Says the guy who forgot to breath.” With that, I lost it. I laughed freely, not really caring how much air I needed right now. It was just too hilarious, to have a master actually worry about me.

It felt good. For some seconds the pain couldn’t be felt.

“Can I go lay down for a while?” I asked, feeling like it was a safe thing to ask now that I knew master wouldn’t mind it.

“Did you eat enough?” he looked up at my plate and frowned, still smiling though.

“Not at all.” I responded, yawning. He picked me up gently, not bothering to ask if I could walk or not. He went to the door to his room, and I had to interfere. “Wait! I’ll have the couch.”

“No you won’t. I have to check if your clumsiness opened your wounds, so no couch for you until you learn to breath properly.” Midorima-sama said, a joke dancing on his lips. Huh, so even this stoic man could joke around.

“I just forgot! You are so mean Shin-chan!” the moment the name left my mouth and master looked at me with wide eyes, I knew that was something I shouldn’t have said. But Midorima-sama pressed further into my mistake.

“Shin-chan? What’s with that stupid name?” he asked, sounding more curious than mad.

“Sorry, but you said I could call you whatever I wanted… But I won’t if you…”

“No, it’s alright. I did tell you that.” He said, not completely convinced of that argument. “I can’t say I like it, but it’s not bad either. Feels…”

“Less robotic?” I finished for him. He nodded. “Then get used to it, you’ll be Shin-chan from now on.”

“Please don’t say that in front of the other guys…” he said, pink overflowing his face again.

I chuckled. “You are such a tsundere, Shin-chan!”

Yeah, life here didn’t seem bad at all.


	13. Partners in Crime

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, it's not an April fools' joke. This is a real chapter.  
> I'd like to apologize for the wait, and I'm sorry to say I won't be able to update so frequently now.  
> School just started, and I got myself stuck in the worst mistake I've ever made.  
> DO NOT join the student council, EVER.  
> (not really, it's been one of the top things I've wanted to do before I leave school)  
> It takes a whole lot of my schedule right now, and I'm currently preparing to take a test that's supposed to decide my future so yeah...  
> But the story is not going down again!  
> So, here we are. I finally found enough time to write this!  
> I hope you enjoy it!

**Kise’s POV**

Aomine-san and I were the first to get to the administrative building. The walk there had been quiet, both of us enjoying the aftermath of the storm from last night. We had spent a nice night together, eating pizza again and going to bed quite early. If it weren’t for my stupid misinterpretation of the phrase “let’s go to bed!” that Aomine-san had so carelessly said, then maybe I wouldn’t have thrown up and gotten my head feeling like shit, but it was just a minor thing.

Aomine-san had explained me the reason he had bought me after that, so I could calm down. The place I was in was the most prestigious university in Japan, and he was a student pursuing a professional career. He said he and some other people whom I was meeting today had this particular course called “Social Environment Management”, which basically gives a score depending on the way they treat their slaves. Master had a sour look on his face while he talked. He also said he wasn’t planning on following those procedures (for which I said I was OK with them if it helped him pass the class, him looking at me like I was crazy) and that the other guys I was going to meet were against this agreement too (“Except for the psychotic redhead you met yesterday, poor slave must be starving right now!” Aomine-san had added).

But as the moment was coming closer and closer, I couldn’t help but feel nervous. They were masters too, even if they were against slavery. I couldn’t make a stupid mistake again, having more pairs of eyes looking at me meant they could see everything. I had to be good so they wouldn’t put me back at the wards…

We were resting on what Aomine-san said was the common room of the building, when other people came in. First, red flooded my vision and I flinched, thinking it was the shorty that had threatened us yesterday. However, as the man came into the room, I noticed he wasn’t the one I had thought, but instead a big, strong looking guy stood by the door, a light blue haired kid close behind him.

Ah, a slave.

“Kagami? What the hell?” Aomine-san exclaimed when he entered the room. The man, Kagami, moved behind the door, holding it in place while the child clinged into his shirt, his face hidden behind his master. “Didn’t know you had a thing for children, dude. You crazy or shit?”

He sighed, and looked truly pissed at Aomine-san’s comment.

“Long story short, he seemed too young to be there. Couldn’t leave him. Now, could you please make some space on the couch? Midorima’s having some issues with his...” The red hair said.

Although Aomine-san seemed like he wanted to keep annoying the other man, he moved immediately and stood by the fireplace at his serious request, so I quickly followed. Not long after, a green haired guy (what the hell was wrong with these hair colors?!) with glasses came into the room. I heard my master suck a breath in, and my gaze fell on the contorted face of the slave resting on the newcomer’s arms. My skin became pale instantly, fear making my heart go faster at the sight of the man.

What the hell had that slave done to be in that much pain?

Oblivious to the looks around him, the glasses guy didn’t even pass a glance to us while he moved to the couch quickly. He carefully maneuvered the slave on his arms so he could lower him face down into the couch, his sweaty head resting on a cushion. It was so mindful and gentle that it didn’t look like the tall man was at fault for so much pain, but instead, he seemed extremely worried about it. The poor kid whimpered and yelped at every sudden movement, but kept his lips shut.

“Need something?” Aomine-san asked, finally moving away from his trance.

“A wet cloth, need to clean the wounds again.” the other guy answered while he lifted the slave’s shirt. Aomine-san bolted to what I figured was a bathroom.

He came back and stood by the couch just in time to see the green hair remove the bandages covering most of the slave’s back. Needless to say, I felt like throwing up my pizza all over again.

Kagami gasped loudly and clenched his fists tightly, moving close to us. I suppose I shared his reaction.

If I were to describe it, well, there were scratches. And not just “Oh, I cut my finger with paper” scratches. Oh no, it was probably closer to “I put my hand on the food processor” kind of scratches.

“Oh my god…” Kagami muttered under his breath, eyes wide as plates.

The green hair sighed, and grabbed something from his pocket.

“Takao” he whispered slowly, omitting the worried looks we all gave them. “One of the minor cuts opened,” _Minor_?! “and there a significant amount of blood flowing out of it. I can patch it up now, but it will hurt a lot. I can put the cream afterwards though, or I can put the anesthetic cream over your back without fixing the gash so it stops hurting for a while, but I don’t know how long it will last. What do you prefer?”

The slave, Takao, whimpered when he tried turning his head to look at his master. “What’s better?” he rasped.

“I would prefer closing it right away, but it depends on how much pain you can stand.” The slave smirked and huffed out a shuddering breath. Was that… laughing? “Sorry, that was inappropriate from my part.”

“S’okay. Just make it quick, please.” The slave said, and closed his eyes once more.

The green hair nodded, and swiftly moved the stuff he had taken out of his pocket (a needle and some kind of string) towards the slave. At that moment I had already started to realize that it wasn’t as creepy as what I had initially thought. Sure, watching the needle going through Takao’s skin and the little noises he made every time was indeed creepy, but he was being taken care of. Hell, his master had even asked for his opinion about the whole matter.

It didn’t take long for the green hair to finish, and soon he was cleaning the slave’s back with the cloth and applied cream over the slave’s back in a gentle and soothing manner. He finally covered the bandages with the slave’s shirt once more and helped him sit back up.

“Midorima…”

“Don’t start, Aomine.” the man interrupted. “And no, it wasn’t me. I found him like this back at the wards.”

“Torture wards?” Aomine-san asked taking some steps backwards, realizing he had come too close to the action.

“Yes.” Midorima answered.

My master let out a long breath while keeping his hand on his forehead. I didn’t have to be a genius to realize he was too distressed to be normal. The red hair, Kagami, had started pacing around the room.

“What the hell is wrong with that place…?” he said, casting a worried glance at Takao. “Kuroko was as bad as that, too. I just can’t imagine what the others might look like if both Takao and Kuroko are in this state.”

The child that had come with him was… Ah, still standing by the door. God, what a small presence. Aomine-san took a while to notice him too.

“But they are just kids!” he said once he found him. He then directed his gaze towards me. “Kise is our age, and even he went through hell and back in that place!”

Midorima looked at me with serious eyes, and I shuddered, lowering my head. “I’m sorry, but he doesn’t seem as bad as this two. What ward were you in, Kise?”

I gulped, and stuttered a bit at the amount of attention put on me. “I-I was in B ward, master…”

“It shouldn’t mean anything that his ward is on top of the ones where Kuroko and Takao were in, Midorima. For him to be as scared as he is just because you asked a question is enough to know he had his share of pain, too.” Kagami added, his voice so reassuring that I found myself staring back at the other slave, Kuroko, thinking how lucky he was to have a master like that.

“But why the hell did you get your hands on something as demanding as taking care of them?!” Aomine-san exclaimed, for which the three slaves in the room flinched. I knew he didn’t mean it that way but, I felt sad at the fact that he had mentioned it. After all, what would our lives have been if they hadn’t taken us out from that place? Just by seeing the look on Takao’s face I realized he was thinking about it too.

Midorima seemed about to snap, but at the last moment he seemed to realize it wouldn’t do any good if he did. “He was fucking _dying…_!” He said instead. His hands started trembling, and the voice he used to answer my master’s question was enough to make me shudder. “Just imagining that he was going to die if I hadn’t stepped in is…”

“A-and also that… I haven’t felt this good for a r-really long time…” Takao added from his place on the couch, wary but steady at voicing out his opinion. Midorima’s lips curved upward a little bit, and Aomine-san’s face saddened at the roughness of the statement. Feeling confident at continuing, Takao proceeded with his comment. “Shin-chan has been nothing but kind to me, and I’m sure you must feel that way too, right?” He glanced at Kuroko and me, smiling fondly.

Aomine-san, like always, ruined the moment.

“ _Shin-chan_?” he laughed, and Midorima’s face reddened, looking back at Takao sharply. “What the hell is that nickname for?”

“Takao!” Midorima exclaimed, trying (and failing) to look furious.

Takao shrugged while smiling apologetically, and Kagami failed to keep his own laughter at bay. Even I let out a chuckle at the face the green head was making.

“Seems like the evening started well even without us. What are you all laughing about?” a voice said, and all of us looked back at the door. The red hair that had threatened us yesterday was coming inside, behind him a brown haired slave stood with a sour look on his face. Wait, wasn’t that kid supposed to be dead by now?

“Ah, Akashi.” Kagami said, motioning at Kuroko to come closer to us. He, from his part, bowed a little bit towards Akashi, who smiled, and scurried towards his master. “I was starting to wonder where you were.”

“I just had to make some arrangements because _someone_ got sick because of his escape attempt yesterday.” He said, directing the “someone” to his slave.

 “He tried to escape?!” Midorima said, his eyes widening at the thought.

As the redhead opened his mouth to respond, the slave chuckled and interrupted him. “Well, you can’t blame me for not believing the promise of food. He gave me quite a shock when we first met, I thought he was going to poison me or something!” he said, his voice sluggish and nasal.

Yup, he was sick.

Kagami actually snorted at that.

“Same here!” He said cheerfully, holding his hand up. “He tried stabbing me with scissors!”

Huh?!

“See?” the slave exclaimed, looking at his master. “And you tell me I shouldn’t fear you!”

“At my defense, I knew Taiga was going to dodge, so it wasn’t really a murder intent.”

What. The. Fuck. Was going on here. They were talking so freely about how the redhead almost murdered someone so freely? And what the hell was this slave with such an attitude?

“Ooi, lower your voice. We could hear you from the hall, and one of the teachers was sleeping down there.” A new person appeared through the doorway, and I barely resisted the urge to face palm now. Purple hair, at least two meters tall? Really? Ryouta, are you dead? “let the poor man sleep.”

“Sorry, sorry” Aomine-san said, waving his hand carelessly. “We are currently enjoying ourselves before the storm. Who knows what Nijimura wants to tell us.”

The giant entered to the room, and beckoned the one behind him to follow. He looked down the moment he stepped into the room, and I couldn’t help but follow his movements with my eyes. So did some of the others.

He was a really pretty slave, even when I couldn’t see his face. But the lack of muscular mass of his body frightened me. His cheeks were hollow and, as skinny as he was now, I knew he must have been on the torture wards, just like Takao.

I didn’t recognize him from the wards, so he hadn’t stepped into the bondage area with us. However, someone else did seem to know him.

“Tatsuya…?” Kagami murmured, almost breathless.

At this, the slave flinched, and slowly lifted his gaze. He was indeed beautiful, and he seemed so surprised that I feared the reaction Kagami was going to get.

But, as Kagami took a step forward, another door opened with a loud noise.

“Gentlemen, dinner is served. Nijimura-sama is waiting for you at the table.”

Kagami was about to argue and go to the opposite direction, but he seemed to realize the matter could wait for later.

So we all moved that way, unspoken phrases left lingering in the air.

 

**Nijimura’s POV**

The long table was only half used, me sitting at one end while the other took their usual sits one by one. Kagami and Akashi next to me, followed by Midorima and Aomine respectively, and finally Murasakibara (who wasn’t always keen on keeping up with conversation) next to Midorima.

They all had serious looks on their faces as they watched around as the slaves took their places next to them on the floor. Midorima’s had to look around twice before he proceeded to kneel by his master’s side. Must have been his first time.

Shougo gave me a hard tug on my leg. The slaves were already frightened.

“Welcome, students.” I said, lifting my gaze to look at them. “Congratulations on your first acquirement.” I landed my gaze on Aomine, and he furrowed his brows at me. I smiled. “Yes, this was a good purchase indeed.”

Their greeting was curt and formal. Even though I tried to be as welcoming as I could, Aomine didn’t reciprocate any of it. But he was here. That was what counted, after all.

Kagami’s usually joyful expression fell a little when he sensed the mood the room was in, tension seeping into his posture.

“Stop the crap, Nijimura, and tell us what you want from us this time.” Aomine snapped at the same time the maids started bringing food from the kitchen.

“Aomine, please calm down. It’s not like I’m going to treat your slaves any different from Shougo, and he hasn’t complained much.” I said, mindful of the face Shougo was making at me from the floor.

“Then why the hell are they kneeling on the floor for?!” Aomine said back, fists hitting the table. A hard tug on my leg, the slaves had reacted badly at that statement.

Luckily, Akashi seemed to realize that too.

“It’s common slave procedures, Daiki.” He said, eyes sharply looking into the blue head’s direction. “Nijimura is just trying to make them comfortable, or else they would panic if they had to sit at the table with us.”

“Indeed, Akashi. Why else would Shougo be kneeling too even when he usually sits with us?”

“It’s not like I had a choice, by the way.” Shougo stupidly added from under the table. I rolled my eyes and kicked him softly. Two tugs on my leg. Good, crisis evaded.

“Now, as I mentioned on my message, you are here because of your slaves, and because I have to discuss something of vital importance with you.”

They all nodded, looking at me expectantly.

“First of all, I want you to know that you wouldn’t be here if you had chosen another slaves. This five were all being monitored by me and a group of teachers whose classes you attend. The fact that the five of you chose them wasn’t a coincidence, at least from my own point of view.” Many eyes were lifted in surprise, but I kept talking. “Maybe you would have bought them in other order, having one of the other slaves in the group but that doesn’t matter. What does matter, is that you chose well, and I’m very proud of you. I’ll go into details shortly but please, let us enjoy dinner first.”

I stopped talking to watch the looks on their faces, examining the way they reacted. Many pairs of eyes were furrowed in confusion, but they followed my last request anyways.

Dinner was awkward. Midorima and Akashi did some generic small talk while they ate, mostly about the university, their classmates, basketball (in which Aomine joined for a while) … Whenever Kagami tried to shift the topic to anything they were actually here to talk about, the slaves, Aomine would switch it back as soon as he could. He wasn’t even subtle about it.

When dessert came, Kagami had given up trying and settled for the light, meaningless conversation they all seemed to prefer at the moment. Maybe they just needed more time to prepare. Murasakibara didn’t utter a single word. Shougo had started throwing looks and signs at the slaves at some point, doing his best to ease the mood on his part. One of them has sneezed during dinner, trying to go unnoticed. If it wasn’t for Shougo waving his hand in an attempt to tell that slave that it didn’t matter, I would have let it go immediately, but I couldn’t. Still, they had to stay; after all, they needed to hear this part too.

When we finally set down our spoons, silence fell over the dining area. I could practically feel the tension that was radiating from the guys and the slaves, and tried to calm Shougo with soothing caressing on his head at the same time that he tried encouraging the other slaves with warm smiles. He was doing a great job at that.

After what felt like a tiny eternity, I took a breath and cleared his throat. I didn’t feel like sounding angry when I spoke. Tired, carefully neutral, but not angry.

“Now, before I go into actual details, I need you to take a look at this. Shougo please.” I said as he stood up from his place and went to another table behind me to retrieve a folder. He started passing papers over the table, using the excuse to throw funny faces at Aomine and Kagami who had too much of a serious face for him to let that chance go.

It was a nice attempt to make them smile, but it still wouldn’t be enough for what they had to face right now.

“What Shougo has given you, is the Social Environment Management grading sheet.” At this, many heads snapped in my direction. Shougo came back to sit at my side.

“Wait, isn’t this supposed to be confidential?” Midorima inquired.

I nodded. “It is, yes. But I figured you might want to read it. You know you have special treatment for being who you are.” I said, doing a gesture with my hand so they could start reading.

Ten seconds. It took exactly ten seconds for them to reach the bad part of the sheet. I knew because of their faces. Hell, even Murasakibara’s eyes widened.

“What the heck is this…” Aomine murmured, eyes fixated on the document.

“Those are the specific actions the teacher will be grading, be it inside or outside the classroom. It depicts what you have to do to your slave so you pass.” I said slowly, prepared for the tug on my leg.

““ _Proper property accessories, stance and behavior_ ” … This are…?” someone asked.

“Common slave’s procedures again, Midorima.” Akashi answered with a cold voice. Another tug.

“Nijimura, you have to be kidding me.” Kagami exclaimed. Oh, fuck. ““ _Applying proper punishment to establish authority_ ”?!”

“Kagami! You…!” before I got the chance to shut him up, Shougo’s hand crept up my leg and stayed there, clutching my pants with such force that his knuckles turned white. He was looking at me with such a desperate face that I felt my heart clench at the sight.

Because of that, I detached myself from the chaos on the table and went to look under it, where I supposed was much worse.

Well, fuck.

A look around was enough to make me realize why Shougo was looking so bad. The others were beyond awful. Midorima and Aomine’s slaves had raised their heads at their masters when Kagami spoke, eyes so wide and pupils so small that it was a miracle they hadn’t started having a panic attack right there. Akashi and Murasakibara’s kept it subtle, gaze cast down as if they were expecting such a thing to happen. What gave them out was the shivers that they occasionally let loose. They were terrified too.

But what made me choke down a breath, was Kagami’s. He didn’t even consider hiding how scared he was. He trembled with such force that his arms had come up to his chest in an attempt to stop it, not getting many results. His mouth was agape as if he wanted to say something (or scream, for the matter) and his eyes… His eyes, that resembled _him_ so much had so much fright in them that… Crap, I had to stop this.

“Shougo” I said, surprised that my voice didn’t flatter. “Take them out. Take them to the common room, _please_.” I pleaded. I couldn’t stand seeing them like that.

“Okay.” Shougo stood up once more after doing another sign at the slaves, and they started rising one by one. None of the guys protested, for which I was grateful. Still, it pained me to see the way Midorima had to refrain himself from helping his slave up, knowing the contact would frighten him.

I heard Kagami mutter “It’s gonna be okay, Kuroko. I’ll be right here.” To his slave before they started walking away.

I sighed. This was going to be a long night.

 

**Haizaki’s POV**

Returning to the room that the kids had previously stayed in was one of the most heartbreaking sights I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t only them reeking of fear, it was their looks and actions that made me uneasy.

“Come sit down, We’ll have our food sent here shortly.” I said, letting myself fall in the sofa. Some of the slaves followed my gesture, taking the seats that were left reluctantly. Akashi’s didn’t. He was standing on a corner debating whether or not to come and join us when a hand appeared on his shoulder. Turning he saw the face of Murasakibara’s, the pretty and scrawny boy with a mole under his eye. "We’ll be okay.” His serene smile said.

He was also frightened to death, but at least he acted like he didn’t. It was nice to have another support pillar for them.

"I guess." I started meekly. "You honestly don’t know why you’re here. But I do think that you'll find this very helpful. I’ve been through what you are going through; the helplessness you feel for example…”

"You seemed happy to be here.” The raven haired, Midorima’s interrupted me, and I smiled.

“It’s because I am. Shuuzo has been the best person to me, he saved my life when I was sure I wouldn’t last another day.” Akashi’s looked at me with suspicion. “I was not in the wards, if that’s what you’re thinking.” I said in his direction. “I was kidnapped when I was six, I think? They put me on the rings. Nobody ever cared an orphan dying on their stupid dog fights.”

When I finished speaking, many pairs of eyes looked at me in surprise. Even Kagami’s had raised his head.

“What are the rings?” Murasakibara’s said. I gulped, I didn’t know one of them wouldn’t know what they are.

Calm down Shougo. Shuuzo is on the other room, you can do this. “It’s a nightmare. Long story short, they are illegal fights between slaves and kidnapped people, like me, where masters can make bets and earn money. The system is quite simple: you lose, you’re either dead or hell comes down upon you.” I breathed deep, pushing away the memories. “Shuuzo found me about twelve years ago, when he was a student at this same university. He had refused to take a slave from the wards and went to the rings instead, saying he needed a bodyguard so he could buy me specifically.”

“So you have been with him for a long time.” Akashi’s stated.

“Yeah. And I appreciate what he did for me very much. Even when I was a pain in the ass for the first months, he still treated me like any other human being. He bought me for the same reason you have been bought, and we both expect that your masters will turn out as good as Shuuzo was with me.”

They all looked down again, sour looks on their faces.

“Then why did they say they needed to punish us for no reason at all?” Midorima’s asked, voice trembling.

“They won’t.” I said, and all heads raised once more. “That was the grading sheet the teachers are using, but Shuuzo managed to make an exception with these five. They are not following standards because they are using them as _test subjects_ for a new method Shuuzo is developing, which basically consists on a way to teach students to treat slaves better.”

“Are you serious?!” Akashi’s exclaimed, eyes wide as plates. Wow, I hadn’t realized how affected he had been by the news.

“I am. Because of that, and also because you five are special for some reason. It has to do something with you not deserving to be in the position you’re in right now, but he wouldn’t give me details.”

“Then we are safe.” Aomine’s said, relief flooding his expression.

Shoulders visibly relaxed, and by the way their stances had changed, it meant we were okay for now. Still, I tried to keep them talking, not wanting to put them on another comfortable silence.

However, as I was about to open my mouth, I heard a knock on the door coming from the hallway, making everyone in the room flinch and loot at it wearily.

“Haizaki-kun, we brought your food.” I heard one of the maids, probably Irene-san, say.

“Ah! Please come in!” I stood when the door opened, walking swiftly to the other side of the room to help Irene-san with the food.

“Thank you for the help, Haizaki-kun” she said once we had left all the plates on the coffee table in the middle of the room. She smiled gently at Murasakibara’s and Akashi’s, who were looking at her cautiously, and left.

“Okay, help yourselves! The food here is amazing, so dig in!”

They reluctantly stood from their places to take their respective plates, their gestures making them look as if the food would grow legs and run. Well, they were all notoriously underfeed (Murasakibara’s was almost only bone) so I couldn’t help myself but think about how many times the food had been taken away from them.

Slavery was a bitch.

While we ate, I tried starting another conversation. “Sorry, but could you tell me your names at least? Shuuzo forgot to mention them, and I feel kind of awkward.” I said, trying on a smile. “My name’s Haizaki Shougo, by the way. I’m 24.”

“Furihata Kouki, 17. B wards.” Akashi’s answered first, voice stern and defiant. He hadn’t been long at the wards.

“Kise Ryouta, 18 same ward as Furihata-kun.” The blonde said, looking to the brown haired kid.

“Uh, Himuro Tatsuya, 19. Torture wards. I believe it was level D, but I’m not certain.”

“Same as Himuro-san there, 16. Takao Kazunari.” The raven answered.

We all looked back at Kagami’s, who flinched at the attention he was receiving.

“K-Kuroko Tetsuya, uh, I think I’m 15?” I frowned at his doubt, my interest suddenly raising for the boy I had almost forgotten. “And I’m… I’m not really sure if my m-master is okay with me saying what ward I was in…” He fidgeted with his sleeve while saying this.

“Why wouldn’t he? You are with Kagami, right?” He nodded. I noticed Himuro flinching out of the corner of my eye. “Well, you got yourself one giant teddy bear. He isn’t one to punish under any circumstances, he has even saved my ass from some critical instances in the past.” I said, smiling at the memory.

“How did he save you? You don’t seem to be a softie. You look like you can take care of yourself.” Furihata said.

“I normally can, but this caught me where I was at my most vulnerable state.” I said, laughing at his words. “At the beginning of his first year here, he had been studying outside the dorm, enjoying the last days of summer. One of the teachers had caught me jumping off the window of Shuuzo’s room and believed he had to punish me for “trying to escape” (Which I didn’t, but he didn’t trust a slave). Of course, I had fought back, with the knowledge that Shuuzo always reminded me that if anyone tried to hurt me, I was allowed to throw back some punches. But the teacher had had a Taser gun, and the current hurt like a bitch.” I paused, remembering how the lines of pain went through my body like a snake crawling its way inside me. “Kagami had heard me screaming from agony, and came to my rescue. When the teacher realized I was still conscious, he prepared to strike another shock. But Kagami appeared and punched the teacher’s face with such force that some teeth flew, and then helped me up once he knew the teacher was knocked out. He tried helping me into a sitting position to make me regain some balance of my body, but the pain was too much and I ended up fainting. Next thing I know, I’m at the infirmary. He had realized I was a slave, but had carried me there anyways, and I was really confused as to why someone apart from Shuuzo would do something like that. Well, he was asleep next to my bed, and then Shuuzo bursts in, going right next to me and asking a bunch of questions that got me dizzy all over again. Not much happened after that apart from Shuuzo being eternally grateful to Kagami for saving me and blah blah blah.” I stopped for a while, glad to hear the chuckles coming from Takao, Kise and Himuro. It was a nice, warm sound that made the room light up.

“That sounds a lot like Taiga.” Himuro said, and Furihata looked at him in surprise.

“What? First name basis? You _know_ him?” He asked disbelievingly.

“Yeah. We were really close back in America.” He said, eyes saddening a little. “Well, at least until I was imprisoned. I didn’t know he had come back to Japan after all this time.”

“Wow, what a coincidence.”

I brushed that sad comment off, and directed my gaze to the wide eyed Kuroko. “Overall, Kagami’s the best. You were one lucky kid to be chosen by him.” The others looked at me, and I smiled. “Well, you were all really lucky. Your life is sure to become brighter from now on. The guys are all the nicest bunch of guys of the whole university.”

“Aomine-san seems nice” Kise said, smiling. “He let me eat pizza, and took me out to play basketball with him.”

“He took you outside the university soil?” I burst out laughing. “Oh god, that’s so Aomine like. Were you able to beat him?”

“I was close to. A bit more and I would have kicked his ass” he said, faking frustration.

I chuckled again. “I see why he likes you.”

“Hey, wait. You all seem very comfortable with your new masters and such, but what about the psycho?!” Furihata said, raising his glass of water up like he was mad at it.

“For starters, you seemed pretty comfortable by insulting him in front of the whole group while he was right there.” Takao said, a smirk dancing on his lips. “And he didn’t do anything bad to you afterwards.”

“Did I also hear something about _trying to escape_?” Kise added.

“But he’s nuts!”

“Akashi, huh?” I said, breaking off their little fight. “He’s… weird, yeah. But it’s not a bad weird, it’s more like… _special_ weird.” The frown on Furihata’s brows deepened. “Okay, yeah. He’s a psycho most of the time. But he’s different from your usual knife wielding, serial killer psycho. I like to say his methods are just the way he treats everyone. He’s like, the leader of the group, and to do that I can’t even imagine how strong he must be to carry all of the other weirdos on his back alone.”

“So…?”

“He’s scary, and _very_ straightforward. But that doesn’t mean anything. His heart is as soft as a feather, and you just have to bring the right side of Akashi to enjoy being around him.” I said, not knowing what else to say.

“He was very kind to me” Kuroko added from his corner on the table. “He came because Kagami-sama needed some support, since he isn’t used to have slaves. However, he spoke to me very calmly, and even though I was scared of him at the beginning, he turned out to be a really nice person.”

“See? You just have to know when to stop. For all I know, he went to the wards looking for a specific type of slave, and you were the complete opposite from it. He chose you because of something, and even if I don’t know what it was, use it on your favor and you’ll be able to understand him.” I said as a period, his face showing he was deep in thought.

We spoke some more after that, the mood gradually becoming lighter as the previous matter was forgotten. We had already finished eating when the guys showed up in the room.

They didn’t have serious faces, so I guessed Shuuzo had achieved his objective too. However, as they approached their slaves, I noticed Kagami was nowhere to be seen. Oh, right. Shuuzo had to speak to him in private.

Himuro whispered something to Murasakibara, and he nodded. So Himuro approached Kuroko with caution and said something else to him, for which he nodded too.

Aomine came close to me so he could pay me back for the faces I had thrown towards him at the dinner table, and we kept bickering each other for a while.

They all left afterwards, leaving a confused Kuroko and me to wait for his master.

“Kuroko-kun? Shuuzo said he needed to have a talk with Kagami I private, so he will be coming a little late.” I murmured, trying to be as gentle as possible.

His face brightened for a second, and I had to stop my smile from disappearing. I realized he had thought Kagami had left him.

“Okay, will Haizaki-san stay here too?” he asked warily.

“Sure! You know how to read?” I asked, and he nodded, visibly excited for what was coming next. “Well, there are lots of fun books there. You can read as much as you please.”

He nodded again, standing up from his place so he could take a look at the books. He took a fantasy genre and two mysteries, the three of them with a significant amount of pages.

I watched him as he looked at the books, his small hands carefully opening it so he could start reading.

He turned the page with such gentleness that it got me wondering why Shuuzo had told me to be so careful around him.

 

 

 


End file.
